COLUMBUS – Fair season gets underway in Ohio this weekend under new regulations for midway rides prompted by the death of a central Ohio teen.
“Tyler’s Law” has been in effect since November 6, 2020, but fair and carnival midways had been closed and rides prohibited under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions recently lifted.
The law, named for Tyler Jarrell, of Grove City, who died in 2017 after being thrown from a ride at the Ohio State Fair, requires stepped-up inspections of midway rides and more stricter record-keeping.
While “low intensity rides” must be inspected only once a year, “intermediate intensity rides, towers and roller coasters” must be inspected twice under new regulations mandated by the law and issued by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
The law requires that owners of midway rides perform a complete visual inspection of a ride’s structure annually, ensure the ride meets the manufacturer’s minimum requirements for inspection and testing, provide documentation of the visual inspection and the findings to the department for review, maintain the documentation and transfer it to subsequent owners, and submit a list of all locations and dates where any portable ride was stored for a period longer than 30 days or operated outside the state.