Tuesday - April 26, 2011

a ban on bumper cars, or dodgems as we’d say in the usa.

OK, do I file this under humor?  Or stupid people?

I think we called em Dodgems when I was a kid.  The goal of course was to avoid being bumped while aiming for someone else. Heck, I don’t recall anyone ever being hurt. But hey ... health and safety ya know.  And then sadly, there is the legal thing in these days of a very litigious culture. 

I guess maybe I should file under law and courts and lawyers etc. I just discovered there isn’t really anything funny here. 

Bumping in bumper cars is banned at Butlins in the name of ‘health and safety’

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:45 AM on 26th April 2011

You could be forgiven for thinking bumper cars were, well, for bumping.

But seaside resorts are introducing their own strict Highway Code on the fairground ride because of health and safety concerns.

Bosses at all three Butlins resorts – in Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness – have decided that the point of dodgems is to dodge one another.

So they have banned visitors from bumping their cars together, requesting that they manoeuvre them carefully and sedately around the course instead.

They insist adults and children can still have ‘great fun’ overtaking other cars – but only while driving in an orderly fashion in the same direction.

However, disappointed visitors have described the experience as similar to navigating ‘an exitless roundabout’.

Ironically, it was Sir Billy Butlin himself who brought the electric bumper car, equipped with its distinctive large bumpers, to British fairgrounds from the U.S. in the 1920s.

The holiday camp confirmed that the rules for their ‘experience dodgems’ had been tightened to avoid customers injuring themselves or others. Staff have been ordered to ban any visitor who dares to flout the strict ‘no bump’ rule.

A spokesman for Butlins admitted the restrictions were ‘pretty vigilant’, but insisted they were necessary.

It is thought the company was concerned about potential legal claims for whiplash or other injuries suffered during a ‘crash’.

But although there have been attempts to claim compensation for injuries sustained while on a bumper car, none has succeeded.

Solicitors say it would be very difficult to prove fault on the part of a dodgem driver, and many believe the level of impact would simply be too low for a compensation claim. 

Jeremy Pardey, resort director at Butlins in Bognor Regis, said he could not allow the cars to bump for ‘health and safety reasons’.

He added: ‘The point of our dodgems is to dodge people, not to run into people.’

The holiday camp has fallen in line with many other fairgrounds which display ‘no bumping’ signs. But few go as far as banning those who break the rules.

Mr Butlin bought the UK franchise for Dodgem Cars, a brand manufactured in the U.S., and introduced them at his holiday camps 80 years ago.

source

Posted by peiper     on 04/26/2011 at 06:06 AM   
Filed Under: • Health and Safety • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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