I been somewhat following this story and find it interesting. I thought you guys might want to read it.

This is excerpted from RideAccidents.com (http://www.rideaccidents.com)
BUMPER CAR DEATH CASE SETTLED FOR $2 MILLION
(Tuesday, January 25, 2004) - The family of the 8-year-old boy who died after he got shocked while standing in line to ride a bumper car ride at Ohio's Lake County Fair in 2003 will receive nearly $2 million under the conditions of an agreement which settles lawsuits filed against the ride's owner and the fair board. Ride owner Eugene Chaffee agreed to pay $1 million to the boy's parents and the insurer of the Lake County Fair will pay $950,000. The family's lawyer -- who will get $600,000 of the settlement -- says he plans to pursue more lawsuits against the state and two ride inspectors who were convicted of failing to do their jobs properly. Investigators of the August 2003 accident discovered that the ride had not been grounded properly. In addition, prosecutors argued that the ride had 22 safety code violations. Five people were criminally charged in the case, including Chafee, the two ride inspectors, a fair electrician, and a ride supervisor.

That is such a sad story. I cannot imagine what that family is going through.

After reading those accident reports, it just confirms for me the reason I do not allow my kids to ride anything that is even the slightest bit complicated, at a fair.

...and Ohio has a pretty good state inspection system for their fixed installations; I wonder if they use the same inspectors for fairs?

You know this is horrible, I'm just glad there was something done about it. (Not the money but the charges)

I have never been a fan of the fair, I went as a kid but now it just seems like a grease pit with medicore rides. Anyone else look at them this way?

I mean for what I spend there for one day I could pop over to WDW and be in a much more cleaner environment and feel a lot more secure of the rides. :D

I am glad that they reached a settlement not that money will make them feel better but maybe it will teach the fair officials and carnies that they need to be more careful and take more precautions to keep visitors safe.