Parasailing Perils

A young girl was killed and her teenage sister was seriously hurt in a parasailing crash last month in Florida. In the last four years in Florida there have been over 12 reported deaths from parasail crashes and who knows how many serious injuries. Despite these dangers Florida has no parasail regulation and no insurance requirements. There is no wonder that so many are being hurt from parasailing accidents.

Florida depends on tourism to drive its economy. To keep our tourism industry healthy we need to make sure that our tourists are protected from unsafe and unregulated activities. This blog has already discussed the ways that the Florida Government allows theme parks and other tourist activities to operate in virtual secrecy about injuries on theme park rides. The Florida legislature and executive branch also allow the theme parks to self regulate with little to no oversight, no insurance requirements and no meaningful public reporting of injuries. The Florida government also gives carte blanche to parasailing operations and other activities like boat and jet ski rentals to operate at their whim with no public protection. This is short sighted logic,. The more that die in Florida from shoddy tourist operations without regulation or insurance the more the word will get out that Florida does not protect its citizens or its tourists. This is not a third world country. Let’s not act like one in permitting dangerous activities to be marketed to kids without state licensing, regulation or insurance coverage for injuries.

We can all do our part by asking our legislators to adopt parasail safety regulations that are already formulated. Further if they require insurance coverage for parasail operators the free market will make parasail operations safe because without safety measures the parasail operators will not be able to get insurance. AS it stands now the only remedy to protect the public is to file lawsuits from parasail injuries. Why not stop the parasail accidents in the first place.