Amusement Park Accidents in Georgia

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An injury at a Georgia amusement park falls under one of two sets of rules. On a ride, two state acts govern permits, inspections, operators, and injury reports, depending on whether the ride is permanently fixed to a site, and a civil claim runs against the ride’s maker, its owner or operator, or both. Everywhere else in the park, on walkways, in queues and parking areas, and in the crowds that fill them, the claim is a premises claim against the park as a landowner: the park owes invited guests ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe, a guest who falls must show what the park knew, and whether a park answers for an attack by another guest depends on when the cause of action arose.

The Park as Landowner

An owner or occupier that invites others onto its land owes them ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe (OCGA 51-3-1).

Rides Fixed to a Site

The Amusement Ride Safety Act reaches a mechanical device, other than one the Consumer Products Safety Commission regulates, that carries passengers along a fixed or restricted route or within a defined area for their amusement or thrills, and it leaves out any such device that is not permanently fixed to a site (OCGA 25-15-51(1)).

No amusement ride may be operated, except for testing and inspection, until the Office of Safety Fire Commissioner issues a permit, and the application must include a certificate of inspection from a licensed inspector (OCGA 25-15-55). “All amusement rides shall be inspected annually,” and new rides must be inspected before public operation (OCGA 25-15-56(a)). An operator must be at least 16, must be in attendance at all times, and may operate no more than one ride at a time (OCGA 25-15-60). The owner must report to the office “any accident resulting in a fatality or an injury requiring immediate inpatient overnight hospitalization,” in writing by the close of the next business day, and a fatality must also be reported immediately (OCGA 25-15-61). No one may operate a ride without a liability policy “in an appropriate amount determined by regulation,” a bond in a like amount, or cash or other security acceptable to the office (OCGA 25-15-62(a)).

Rides Not Fixed to a Site

A “carnival ride” is a mechanical device of the same description that is not regulated under the Amusement Ride Safety Act, and the term “shall not include any such device which is permanently fixed to a site” (OCGA 25-15-81(2)). A carnival ride needs a permit in each calendar year (OCGA 25-15-85(a)). Beginning January 1, 2018, no permit may issue until the carnival owner submits an evaluation by a licensed engineer of “the functionality of safety mechanisms and the condition of the critical components,” which is required the first time the owner applies for a permit for that ride in this state on or after that date (OCGA 25-15-85(b)). Carnival rides are inspected annually (OCGA 25-15-86). An operator must be at least 16, and no carnival ride may be operated “at standards below those recommended by the manufacturer” or below the standards the office adopts, whichever is greater (OCGA 25-15-90). The owner or operator must post a clearly visible sign at each ride and at each ticket sales location stating any age, weight, or height requirement “necessary as a safeguard against injury,” and it is unlawful to permit entry to a person who does not meet the posted requirements (OCGA 25-15-98).

Ride fixed to a site Ride not fixed to a site
Act Amusement Ride Safety Act (OCGA 25-15-50 et seq.) Carnival Ride Safety Act (OCGA 25-15-80 et seq.)
Injury the owner must report Fatality or injury requiring immediate inpatient overnight hospitalization (OCGA 25-15-61) Fatality or injury requiring medical attention from a licensed medical facility (OCGA 25-15-91)
Required security Policy or bond "in an appropriate amount determined by regulation," or cash or other security acceptable to the office (OCGA 25-15-62) Policy or bond in "an amount not less than $1 million (if an independent contractor)," or cash or other security acceptable to the office (OCGA 25-15-92)

A Claim Over a Ride

A claim that the ride itself was defective falls under the product statute, and an action against the manufacturer is barred once ten years have passed since the ride was first sold for use or consumption (OCGA 51-1-11(b)(2)). A claim that the ride was run or maintained carelessly runs against the owner or operator under the ordinary-care duty of OCGA 51-3-1. The owner of a ride fixed to a site must keep maintenance, inspection, and repair records that include “a description of any mechanical or structural failures or operational breakdowns and the types of actions taken to rectify these conditions” (OCGA 25-15-59), and those records can be evidence in such a claim.

When a Guest Falls

In Robinson v. Kroger Co., 268 Ga. 735 (1997), a supermarket case, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that a guest’s admission of not looking at the spot where the next step landed does not by itself establish a failure to use ordinary care; the question is whether, in all the circumstances at the time and place of the fall, the guest used the prudence an ordinarily careful person would use. The invitee must show the owner’s actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard and the invitee’s own lack of knowledge despite ordinary care, due to actions or conditions within the owner’s control, but the invitee’s burden on that second point arises only after the owner shows negligence on the invitee’s part.

Assumption of the Risk

A rider who knew that a ride carried some general risk has not, for that reason alone, assumed the risk. The Supreme Court of Georgia requires a defendant raising the defense to prove that the injured person actually and subjectively knew of the specific risk that caused the injury, appreciated it, and chose to face it; awareness of risks in general is not enough (Vaughn v. Pleasent, 266 Ga. 862 (1996)). Vaughn grew out of a collision between a police officer answering an emergency call and a turning pickup truck, and the elements it announced are not confined to traffic cases.

Crowds and Violence

Under the law that governed before the 2025 negligent security article, a park’s duty to protect guests from other people reached foreseeable criminal acts, and an attack that began on park property did not stop being the park’s responsibility because the victim stepped off it. In Martin v. Six Flags Over Georgia II, L.P., 301 Ga. 323 (2017), a patron was beaten by a group at a bus stop about 200 feet from the park’s property line after the group had spent the day causing disturbances in the park, including a confrontation with other patrons that park security handled contrary to the park’s own policy of ejecting the assailants. A jury returned a verdict of $35 million. The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed that the jury was authorized to find the park liable “for the breach of its duty to exercise ordinary care in keeping its premises safe for invitees,” although for a different reason than the Court of Appeals had given: because the attack began while the victim and the assailants were on park property, “Six Flags’ liability is not extinguished simply because Martin stepped outside the property’s boundaries while attempting to distance himself from his attackers.” The Court explained that the park had not exercised the control required to make the bus stop part of its “approaches,” and, quoting Sturbridge Partners v. Walker, 267 Ga. 785 (1997), that a landowner’s duty “extends only to foreseeable criminal acts.” It also held that an error in apportioning fault required a retrial only as to apportionment.

Martin was decided under the earlier law. For a cause of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, a claim that an owner failed to keep the premises and approaches safe from third persons’ wrongful conduct is a negligent security claim governed by an article enacted that year (OCGA 51-3-50(1)). To recover as an invitee, the plaintiff must prove, among other elements, that the wrongful conduct was reasonably foreseeable through a particularized warning or known prior substantially similar conduct, and that it resulted from the third person exploiting a specific, known physical condition of the premises that the owner failed to remedy with ordinary care (OCGA 51-3-51). The article also provides that an owner is not liable for negligent security arising from an injury sustained by a person not upon its premises (OCGA 51-3-54(2)).

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the state answer for a ride it inspected or permitted?
No. The amusement ride act does not “place any liability on the State of Georgia, the office, or the Commissioner with respect to any claim by any person, firm, or corporation relating in any way whatsoever to amusement rides and any injury or damages arising therefrom” (OCGA 25-15-68).

Are inflatables and playground equipment covered?
Not by the amusement ride act, which does not apply to “any single-passenger coin operated amusement ride on a stationary foundation or to playground equipment such as swings, seesaws, slides, jungle gyms, rider propelled merry-gorounds, moonwalks, and live rides” (OCGA 25-15-64).

Can a city or county set its own ride safety rules?
Not for permanently fixed rides. No county, municipality, or other political subdivision may regulate “the construction, installation, inspection, maintenance, repair, or operation of amusement rides,” except through zoning and similar ordinances on location, siting, time of operation, or noise (OCGA 25-15-69).

Does Georgia’s recreational property law protect a park that charges admission?
The protection covers an owner that invites or permits people to use its property for recreational purposes without charge, and the recreational property statutes preserve any liability that otherwise exists on a date when the owner charged an individual who lawfully entered for recreational use and someone was injured in connection with that use (OCGA 51-3-23; OCGA 51-3-25(2)).

Does it matter whether the injured guest was an invitee or a licensee?
Yes, under the 2025 negligent security article. A licensee must prove a particularized warning of imminent wrongful conduct, rather than known prior incidents, and a willful and wanton failure to exercise any care, rather than a failure of ordinary care (OCGA 51-3-52).

How long does a child hurt at a park have to sue?
A person under 18 when the claim accrues has the same time after turning 18 that others have, which for an injury to the person is two years after the right of action accrues, except as OCGA 9-3-33.1 provides (OCGA 9-3-90(b); OCGA 9-3-33).

  • OCGA 51-3-1
  • OCGA 25-15-51(1); OCGA 25-15-55; OCGA 25-15-56(a); OCGA 25-15-59; OCGA 25-15-60; OCGA 25-15-61; OCGA 25-15-62(a); OCGA 25-15-64; OCGA 25-15-68; OCGA 25-15-69
  • OCGA 25-15-81(2); OCGA 25-15-85; OCGA 25-15-86; OCGA 25-15-90; OCGA 25-15-91; OCGA 25-15-92; OCGA 25-15-98
  • OCGA 51-1-11(b)(2)
  • Robinson v. Kroger Co., 268 Ga. 735 (1997)
  • Vaughn v. Pleasent, 266 Ga. 862 (1996)
  • Martin v. Six Flags Over Georgia II, L.P., 301 Ga. 323 (2017); Sturbridge Partners v. Walker, 267 Ga. 785 (1997) (as quoted in Martin)
  • OCGA 51-3-50(1); OCGA 51-3-51; OCGA 51-3-52; OCGA 51-3-54(2)
  • OCGA 51-3-23; OCGA 51-3-25(2)
  • OCGA 9-3-33; OCGA 9-3-90(b); OCGA 9-3-33.1

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about ride and premises claims at amusement parks under Georgia law. It is not legal advice, is not medical advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Who is responsible and when a claim must be filed depend on the park, the ride, the event, and the specific facts. A person hurt at an amusement park should seek medical care and consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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