JOHN W. ADKISSON l The Roanoke Times

Safety consultant Danny Abner jokes with a worker as they prepare for the Salem Fair on Tuesday. Abner said that if he discovers a problem with a ride, he is not afraid to close it.

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Dustin Young, 14, of Buchanan was on the "Octopus" ride at the fair Tuesday when the car he was in fell to the ground.

JOHN W. ADKISSON l The Roanoke Times

Workers line up pieces of a ride for the Salem Fair. All rides undergo regular state-mandated inspections.

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

A ride gets some maintenance Tuesday at the annual Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department Fourth of July Carnival.

BUCHANAN -- Cynthia Blankenship had to see it again for herself.

Tuesday afternoon, she circled the "Octopus" ride at the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department 4th of July Carnival, the same ride that broke Monday night, dropping a car in which her son was riding 15 to 20 feet and slamming it into a loading dock. Dustin Young, 14, suffered a bump on the base of his skull and numerous bruises to his stomach and arms, but was OK Tuesday.

"Accidents happen," Blankenship said, "but I'm definitely more wary about carnival rides than I've ever been."

That's a sentiment the Buchanan fire department and organizers of the upcoming Salem Fair, which opens Thursday, can't afford to see spread during this high season for funnel cakes, midway games and trucked-in rides.

They want to allay worries with reminders that such rides undergo frequent state-mandated inspections. The Octopus passed inspection just last week.

"I'm a little worried about it, but I think people will understand," said Marty Rickman, chief of the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department. The carnival, which ends Saturday, raises about $100,000 a year, he said, and has had a perfect safety record for 67 years.

Magic Midway has delivered and operated the rides in Buchanan every year since 1980, and without incident until this year, owner Randy "Red" Roach said.

"We try to keep up with everything," Roach said. "Nobody wants somebody to get hurt."

Roach, who takes rides to more than 30 events a year, argued that movable rides probably get more frequent independent inspections than rides at places such as Busch Gardens or Kings Dominion.

"It's just a freak accident." he said. "We don't want people disturbed. We want to see them come out and support the fire department."

Carey Harveycutter, director of Salem's civic facilities, said he's not worried about the Salem Fair's prospects.

"Every carnival is different; every fair is different," he said. Though any public assembly comes with bruises and spills, "we have a proven track record," he said.

It's hard to tell how many deaths or injuries occur on these rides. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that in 2005, about 2,500 people were injured on movable rides, the kind that travel from town to town in fairs and carnivals.

Regulation of amusement rides varies widely from state to state, falling to agencies including departments of labor, agriculture and the fire marshal's office.

Seven states have no laws at all governing amusement rides, according to Saferparks, a nonprofit public organization that seeks to prevent amusement ride accidents.

For the states that do require inspections, there's often no way to track the safety record of a ride that may arrive at a carnival or fair as part of a traveling show.

In Virginia, the Department of Housing and Community Development creates and updates regulations governing the rides, but inspections are the responsibility of local building inspection officials, or ride owners or fair organizers themselves. Few building departments employ ride inspectors, but they can call in inspectors certified through the VDHCD. Third-party inspectors hired by ride owners must have the same certification as ones who work for the department.

Rides must be inspected every time they are set up.

But there is no central clearinghouse for Virginia's inspections or safety incident reports, which are requested for incidents requiring a hospital visit but won't be required until 2010.

"There's a lot of people that would like to see a national database ... but there isn't one," said Holly Cammarasana, spokeswoman for the VDHCD.

Several years ago, Florida began a program in which license plates were attached to each ride to allow safety inspectors to better check their history.

Georgia, Massachusetts and Oklahoma have joined the program. But other states have been reluctant to spend money on its operation during tight budget times, said Doug Rathbun, president of the Council for Amusement and Recreational Equipment Safety, which worked with Florida in setting up the program.

Rathbun, who inspects amusement rides for the Illinois Department of Labor, said he was speaking in his capacity as president of CARES.

"I think the safety record of the amusement ride industry overall is very good," he said.

Reassembling the rides can help operators spot problems with the equipment, he said. But at the same time, it can lead to careless errors over time, such as misplacing parts or failing to install the rides properly.

At the Salem Fair, the 35 or so rides are run each day before passengers are allowed onboard.

A ride at the amusement park is safer than a ride on the subway or a city bus, according to Danny Abner, who handles primary oversight of the Salem Fair's rides. The safety consultant is hired by Deggeller Attractions, the Florida-based company that owns and operates the rides at the fair.

Deggeller has a solid reputation and operates several state fairs along the East Coast, Abner said. Though when the inspector discovers a problem, he has the right to close the ride. Abner added, "If I was afraid to shut down a ride, I wouldn't still be doing it."

At the end of the fair's run each year, Abner files a ride report with the Salem building department. In the file from last summer, the majority of rides had no remarks. A few had missing pins and keys, one needed its brakes repaired and one ride was incorrectly anchored, according to the file.

The Salem Fair has one noteworthy incident in its history, a collision on the Zyklon coaster in 1994, but that attraction was owned by Spectacular Rides of Lakeland, Fla., not Deggeller. A man whose knee was injured sued Spectacular and settled in 1997 for an undisclosed amount.

Neil Holland, whose full-time job is deputy building commissioner for the city of Roanoke, inspected the 28-year-old Octopus and other rides in Buchanan. He said his inspections cover connections, compartments that hold riders and safety restraints, among other areas.

"Anything on a ride, as far as I'm concerned, it's important," he said.

He called it "not uncommon at all" for a ride to require repairs before being allowed to open, and many rides require multiple repairs, but they can't open until they pass inspection.

He was first certified as an inspector in 1996, and according to the VDHCD, his certification is up to date.

This is the first accident he's dealt with as an inspector, Holland said.

The part that broke held a tension rod that keeps the ride cars aloft while they rotate around a central axle. When it broke, the car holding Dustin Young and two friends fell.

The part "was in a location, unless you took the ride completely apart, it wouldn't be visible," he said. "I've never heard of one breaking like this. ... You can tell it's from wear."

That's little comfort to Cynthia Blankenship, Dustin's mom, who is still pondering how badly things might have turned out.

Dustin was less fazed. "You can see the skid marks," he told his brother, Nathan, 16, as he dragged his foot through the rut his car gouged in the ground.

The family comes to the fair every year. The Octopus "was the best ride," in Dustin's estimation.

The boy wanted to return to the fair Tuesday night.

Mom said maybe, but no rides. At least not anything fast.

Staff writer Laurence Hammack contributed to this story.