It was the kind of horrific accident that calls out for an explanation.
Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, was thrown from his seat and fell to his death on Monday while riding Goliath, Georgia’s tallest roller coaster and the centerpiece of the sprawling Six Flags theme park just outside Atlanta.
State authorities, as well as the Cobb County Police Department, are investigating, but the question of accountability is complicated: There is no single federal agency that is responsible for enforcing safety standards for rides like Goliath.
Instead, regulations vary from one state to the next, and the amusement park industry has for decades fought against changes to strengthen federal oversight.
In Georgia, annual inspections are overseen by the state’s Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner. The office has said it “maintains extensive safety requirements” and annual inspections, which “include reviews of required documentation, mechanical conditions, safety equipment and the safe operation of rides.” Goliath passed its most recent inspection on March 16.
The office is now investigating Mr. Kariem’s death, which it says will include a full review of records. Damon Ballard, the deputy chief of police for Cobb County, said at a news conference on Friday that the state’s findings would determine whether criminal charges are filed.
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, an industry group, said that many states draw on the same established standards for amusement park safety. In North Carolina, the State Department of Labor oversees amusement park safety. Ohio relies on its Department of Agriculture, and Connecticut uses its Department of Consumer Protection.
Parks themselves have their own stake in keeping patrons safe, since injuries are bad for business.
Despite the tragic accident on Goliath, deaths on amusement park rides are rare. Statistics suggest that a person is far more likely to die of a lightning strike than a roller coaster.
“Guest safety is fundamental to everything our industry does,” the I.A.A.P.A. said in an emailed statement.
But amusement park injuries are not always reported, and the lack of central oversight leaves some researchers and lawmakers uneasy.
“Because this is not nationally regulated, there is no easy way for people outside of the industry, and the parks themselves, to actually get a clear picture of what’s happening,” said Tracy Mehan of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio.
“The most recent study that we did was actually published in 2013, if that tells you anything,” she added. That research found that from 1990 to 2010, more than 4,000 children each year, on average, were treated in United States emergency departments for injuries related to amusement park rides.
A 2005 study published in Injury Prevention, a medical journal, found that there were 40 deaths associated with roller coasters in the United States in the decade that ended in 2004, or four per year on average.
Just over a quarter of those who died were park employees, the study found, and most of them had been hit by moving coaster cars. The rest were park patrons. Of those, 18 died of a medical conditions — such as heart attacks or aneurysms — that might have been exacerbated by the ride, and 11 died from falls or collisions.
Another Six Flags coaster, the X2 in Southern California, has been closed since July after three people in multiple lawsuits said they had suffered catastrophic brain injuries from the ride. The lawsuits accused Six Flags of operating a defectively designed ride and of failing to adequately warn passengers about the risks.
In court filings in an earlier case involving X2, Six Flags denied that the roller coaster had caused a rider’s fatal brain injury.
“We do know that there are gaps in amusement park safety policies — I’ve been raising the alarm on these safety concerns for years,” said Representative André Carson of Indiana, a Democrat.
Mr. Carson has been trying to pass a bill that would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission federal oversight over the industry. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, another Democrat, has tried many times over the years to pass something similar, but the bills have stalled in Congress.
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions has opposed federal oversight laws like the one Mr. Carson has proposed, arguing that state regulators are better positioned than federal ones to keep a close eye on safety.
“We believe the most effective path forward is building on the state programs already in place: strengthening them, ensuring regulators have adequate resources and promoting consistent adoption of proven global safety standards,” the group said.
Martin Lewison, a roller coaster expert who is an associate professor of business at Farmingdale State College and a member of the I.A.A.P.A., said that while any activity comes with risks, riding roller coasters is not inherently dangerous. “In fact,” he said, “it’s probably safer today than it’s ever been.”
Dr. Lewison said that he has ridden on the Goliath roller coaster dozens of times. He said each seat on the ride uses a restraint known as a clamshell, named for its lightly domed shape, that clamps down at a rider’s hips. The seats have no shoulder restraints, which can help hold people in place but may also contribute to head injuries.
The Goliath has an electronic system meant to prevent coaster cars from proceeding down the track unless every passenger’s clamshell is securely in place, Dr. Lewison said. It is unclear whether that system failed on Monday.
Bolliger & Mabillard, the Swiss engineering firm that designed the Goliath, said it was investigating the death and “deeply saddened by this tragic accident.” The company did not respond to questions about the ride’s design.
According to the I.A.A.P.A., which tracks ride injuries in partnership with the National Safety Council, the chance of serious injury for someone who gets on a ride at a fixed-location amusement park in the United States is one in 15.5 million.
It has also found that for every million amusement park rides taken across the country in 2024, there were fewer than two reported injuries, serious or not. “The long-term data continues to demonstrate a gradual decline in injuries per million attendees,” the group said in an email.
After Mr. Kariem’s death on Monday, Six Flags said it had temporarily closed not only the Goliath but also several similar coasters across the country “out of an abundance of caution.”
The closures threaten to worsen financial troubles for Six Flags. The company’s stock price has been falling for years, and a November class-action lawsuit accused Six Flags of misleading investors before a 2024 merger with another amusement park operator, Cedar Park.
The complaint said that for years, Six Flags had “deferred or foregone basic park maintenance, operational improvements, infrastructure repairs, and ride design and development updates.” Six Flags said it could not comment on pending litigation.
Though the Goliath will stay closed while the investigation into Mr. Kariem’s death continues, Six Flags Over Georgia will open its doors on Friday evening.
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