Escalators and Elevators

Shit like this terrifies me, OP.

I can see escalators being very dangerous indeed. What if a woman tripped and her long hair got caught in the steps?

My dad worked on elevators (not escalators) and when i was a teenager he would occasionally take me along on emergency calls on the weekend. I got into the control rooms, and even rode on top of an elevator one time. From what I saw they are perfectly safe. Especially the hydraulic elevators that are used in 2 to 5 stories or maybe more. If something goes wrong the hydraulic fluid can't leak fast enough to get hurt. Those which use cables typically have 3 to five cables plus an emergency cable. Falling elevators are extremely rare except in movies.

You're a pussy op.

As a child I saw the movie The Kiss (1988) which had a scene where a woman bends down on an escalator and her necklace gets caught, shredding her face. Been scared of them ever since.

I used to work in the Hancock building in Chicago. There was a small grocery/deli that was on something like the 91st or 92nd floor, and employees used to take a service elevator up to it to get lunch in order to avoid crowds on the regular elevators. It was a big elevator and as it got higher and higher, it used to sort of shudder and was kind of scary. Of course that didn't stop us from using it.

I worked on 38 and the views were spectacular from even that level. However every so often I'd wonder how long it would take me to take the stairs if there was a fire or something (this was pre 9/11). And then there's this....

A couple of years ago I was riding up an escalator and standing behind a teen wearing a messenger bag. About halfway up the strap of his bag snagged something (sorry, don't recall what it was) and it started to pull him over. I was able to remove his strap before he was strangled. The other scenario would be that the strap would break and he would have fallen backward and tumbled down the escalator stairs.

Another time, I was about 3/4 of the way down the escalator and a woman at the top of the escalator lost her grip on her fairly large suitcase and it fell down the steps and hit me.

I loathe escalators. And I want to punch the faces of people who suddenly stop and pause at the very top of escalators.

I fell coming off of one in Bamberger's basement when I was 4 or 5 and have hated them since. Big knee scab that didn't want to heal.

r8 just say "keep moving please" . It's usually a frau that has to stop to think where she is going next.

Having a pointless argument on FB with someone who doesn’t believe walking up an escalator is faster than walking up the stairs.

This advert used to be regularly aired on television in the UK when I was a child and the shot of the wellington boot being squeezed is seared into mind. I grew up in a relatively rural area, and escalators were rare. The first one I rode was in a department store I visited with my grandmother, and I remember being terrified that my foot would get mangled if I got to too close to the side.

I mean....at some point, you gotta just fucking live your life, man.

That being said ...I'd rather be stuck on an escalator than in an elevator because at least I can see what the FUCK is going on. I'll never forget that scene in an X-files episode where an elevator gets stuck and then drops like 1000 floors and Mulder and Scully have to look at the carnage--arms and legs and shit.

There's one thing that I do on both every time I get on them. I get on and off as quickly as possible...no matter what's in front of me.

Come to think of it, it’s been a long Lin while since I’ve ridden on an escalator

But you don't get STUCK ON an escalator, R13, you get SUCKED INTO one.

Escalators can be dangerous, genuinely. Moving parts and all, that won't stop if your hair, clothing or other body parts get stuck. I'd be very wary and extra careful when bringing children on them since that's the greatest potential for accidents.

Elevators are way safer, the chance of getting in an elevator and it falling are practically nil. The main threat with elevators is the doors: you have to be careful of them not shutting on you and the cab then moving up/down, people have been violently killed that way. I take the ele several times a day where I work, if the doors begin to shut before I can enter/exit I -always- wave just one hand between them to trigger the door sensors to get them open. I never throw my entire body thru them - this is how people can (rarely) get stuck. When I see other people doing this I always mention they should wave one hand only as a safety precaution.

The other issue is the ele doors open and the cab isn't there (again, rare). Then you fall down the shaft. Always check to make sure there's something to walk into.

Tell me about it!

Elevator accidents are gruesome --when they do malfunction, it is often due to brake failure. The doors open and the elevator continues to rise without stopping as someone steps on.

This accident happened near me this year.

Irwin Allen presents: The Escalator. Staring Steve McQueen, Shelley Winters, Charliton Heston, Joan Crawford , Leslie Nielsen , Joan Collins and OJ Simpson. They thought they were going up to the second level but ended up on 5 hours of terror

I used to go to a shop in a small high-rise that needed an old fashioned cage elevator to get to. One of those that had the two doors, one of which was the cage door and the second door was wooden. You also had to use a lever to guide yourself up the floor you wanted. That was the fun part.

The paternoster is a combination of elevator and escalator. The comments beneath the vid are hilarious.

[quote]Paternoster is the Lord's prayer in Latin. You'll need it with this thing.

[quote]A fabulous meat crushing machine, number one in accidents!

[quote]Look honey ! A lawsuit machine! Ok kids ! Who wants to take one for the team?!?!

Escalators are dangerous. I’m very careful on them.

Those teeth that make up the stairs are awful, too. One time I tripped and barked my shin on the edge and it was like being stabbed by several knives. The bruising was deep and lasted weeks.

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nioshtic-2/20039852.html

30 killed annually in the US, 1/2 of whom are maintenance workers who are likely to fall into the shaft, get crushed, etc.

More than 3200 people die EVERY DAY in auto accidents, with 30-40 times that number suffering severe injuries.

Oops, that's traffic deaths worldwide. It's only about 110 deaths per day in the US.

[quote]When I see other people doing this I always mention they should wave one hand only as a safety precaution.

Oh and I’m sure they’re very grateful to you.

[quote]One time I tripped and barked my shin on the edge

Um, woof?

R13, how exactly does one get stuck on an escalator? They’re stairs FFS.

Years ago I witnessed a down escalator stop suddenly with loads of people on it. The people in the middle didn't fall, but some people on the bottom 3rd and the top 3rd toppled over. Ever since then I make sure I hold onto the rails very tightly when I'm going down one.

R27, there have been several news stories about people's clothing getting caught between the stairs and the side wall or at the end point where the belt goes beneath the surface of the floor. Near the end of the escalator, if you bend over or fall over, and your shirt, sweaters, or jacket gets snagged, it's going to be pulled under the floor, and you'll be strangled. The force pulling on your clothing would be so strong, you wouldn't even be able to remove the clothing. The only salvation would be if a bystander has a knife or a pair of scissors and can cut off your clothing.

Final escalator ride.

2:15

R29, Just lift your caftan over your head when you get on. Problem solved.

I was on a relatively short escalator ride at an airport where a woman above me lost her balance and tumbled down with her bag. I managed to get out of the way myself, but she took my bag with her, where I later discovered the handle was damaged and needed to be replaced. She got up saying that she was okay, refusing any medical attention, probably because she had a non-refundable ticket that would have been a nightmare to try to rearrange.

Detroit Metro Airport says you're not supposed to put your bags on escalators.

But they'll only tell you after you fall to your death!

I'm surprised more buildings that need escalators never went with travelators, a flat escalator. A membership store I used to do business with many years ago had a travelator that would take both people and shopping carts from floor to floor. No different than moving sidewalks you see in airports, only slanted. There were grooves in the rubber track that the wheels of shopping carts would fit into keeping the shopping cart from moving. You didn't even have to keep your hands on the cart. Much less chance of disaster on those things. I haven't seen another one since I shopped in that store.

This thread is terrifying. I'm afraid of both which has just been reinforced!

I have a garage door opener with sensors that will stop if there are leaves or dust in the path of the door coming down. So why can't they do the same with escalators?

I understand that elevators have a mechanically designed “stop” that can’t fail.

Your chances of being killed on either are infinitesimal.

This makes me laugh every time--I must be a horrible person, because I am sure it hurt like hell. But the use of "Yackety-Sax" as the music just kills me.

That’s a good question, r36.

This still gives me the creeps. I can't believe they actually showed footage of this on the news.

An oldie, but still funny...

Another one...

What was she thinking?

R44, that was posted at r39 with yakety sax as the music. Both are hysterical.

And here’s something else I noticed: After the initial, ahem, trouble, she was well on her way up until those busybodies pressed the emergency stop. She could’ve made it up!

This one is very sad. The woman died a few months later from an infection.

The family has sued the airport, even though the yellow sign on the escalator clearly says "No Wheelchairs."

Who knew that dogs are instinctively afraid of escalators?

I worked for the attorney who handled this lawsuit. He had worked with the Plaintiff at a firm years before. She was near the bottom of the escalator when the accident happened and was buried under all the people who were sliding down the escalator. The accident happened when the stairs, which were going downward, stopped once, then jerked to a start, then stopped again, then started up and the stairs went flat so that the escalator turned into a slide with the stairs still moving.

She was pinned on her back against the still moving stairs and her back was ground to a pulp, almost to her ribs, she also lost one of her legs due to her injuries. She had years and years and years of surgeries, dozens of skin grafts and had to be fitted for a prosthetic. She was one of the most genuinely nice people you'd ever want to me and was pretty upbeat throughout the suit, and the defendants made her life hell.

We ultimately got the case settled for a ton of money for her so she wouldn't have to worry about finances for the rest of her life.

I was in Alexanders White Plains as a very small child and my also very young cousin and I were bored to death waiting for my mom so we were playing near/on the escalator. (Yes my mom was not anywhere close to us nor watching us.) his foot got grabbed by the teeth of the elevator at the bottom, a random adult pressed the stop button I was so young I didn't even know there was a stop button. Thank goodness he was wearing these ridiculous red rubber rain boots or his toes would have been toast. They got hurt but not crunched. My mom looked really ashamed when they tracked her down by the sale racks. I've been scared of escalators since, esp in crowded places where people don't move out of the way after they get to the end.

I worked at Macy's as an undergrad in the cellar where we made food baskets. One day management asked us to make a basket for a child which was an odd request. Turns out the child for whom the basket was intended had had his toes sliced off on one of the store escalators earlier that day. Ever since, I always take the stairs at Macy's Herald Square.

The guy in the story R33 posted was wearing flip flops. That couldn’t have helped.

My Dad entered a JFK terminal, remembered something, and turned around to exit. This is when electronic doors were new, as was the idea of an entrance/no exit doorway, I think. Anyway, the doors closed on his head, though I saw he caught his hat! My Mom flipped out, but all was well. He was embarrassed but not hurt, to my knowledge. Probably about 1970ish. I guess it could have been tragic!

Macy's has escalator accidents regularly.

Well, R37, my understanding is that brake failure is about the most common cause of elevator accidents.

The doors open, the person goes to step on, but the cab keeps moving up and the person falls in the gap.

Ding

I never take elevators because I got stuck in one when I was little. I'm very claustrophobic. I can only get into an elevator if it's made of glass and you can see through it, so if you get stuck people can see you.

I never take elevators because I got stuck in one when I was little. I'm very claustrophobic. I can only get into an elevator if it's made of glass and you can see through it, so if you get stuck people can see you.

My mother scared us into a great fear of escalators when we were young. Apparently people were regularly sliced and diced back in the day. I'm cautious when I use them and once at an airport while I was going up, the passenger at the top bags got stuck. Everyone turned around and started quickly going down against the upwards motion. It was scary but no one was hurt.

I'd prefer not to ride on either but there is no avoiding it, so I'm just cautious and alert when I do.

Mother was also afraid of horses because she saw a kid kicked in the head by one when she was little. Also deathly afraid of thunder and lightening. She was raised int he Midwest before coming to San Francisco, I got to see her freak out during earthquakes. She'd scream and cower behind the furniture. You could say she was high strung. Gone now but I miss her and her crazy stories.

Since I was a child, I have had recurring dreams that I am on an escalator, I fall forward gashing my head open on the jagged edge of a step, and then I tumble the rest of the way down, ripping my flesh on the jagged edges until I land, dead,.

R59, was your mother named Betsy?

R58/R60, no.

But my father was named "James", and he warned us when we were kids that he once saw a child's shoe lace get caught at the bottom of the escalator and "ripped that kid's foot right off his body - blood everywhere!"

The giant escalator in the Occulus at WTC gives me panic attacks.

I miss the good old days when parents told scary bedtime stories.

Did you know the Mongol word for “escalator” translates literally to “meat-grinder?”

Crunch time!

"I was in Alexanders White Plains..."

Hey, Alexanders in White Plains! I was there hundreds of times in the 1960s and 70s, we bought all our clothes there. The building was later turned into a mini-mall, then totally demolished a couple of years ago to make room for an apartment bldg. It's still a hole in the ground last time I looked because the developers walked.

It's kind of hard to avoid either escalators or elevators in the NYC area. But since I'm extremely claustrophobic, I stay away from elevators when I can walk. My building is 83 years old, and I haven't been in the small elevator in 20 years. Escalators don't bother me at all and I've never seen an accident or near accident.

Escalators never bothered me until I worked part time in a department store during my college years. I've seen more than my share of close calls.

Who manufactured that Chinese killer escalator?

I don't know, but I wouldn't want to be one of the five other passengers in that elevator. They must have been sprayed with blood and guts.

I like how everyone else just flees and goes on their merry way (besides the one guy who stays in his slightly Mary way)

I wouldn't get back on that elevator, would you?

I'm more afraid of elevators than escalators. Though when I visited London, some of those escalators to the Underground stations are so huge... Can't imagine something bad happening there... Yikes!

There were several occasions when I had to take elevators in the Twin Towers back in the 1990s and I was petrified.

The first guy out seems to be waiting for the 2nd (dead) guy. Relationship?

It even happens to the Pope!

[quote]I loathe escalators. And I want to punch the faces of people who suddenly stop and pause at the very top of escalators.

This is a huge problem in New York City. I'm surprised Macy's at Christmas hasn't reported more injuries/deaths. People come down the escalators and then stop to think where to go next, never thinking that there's a whole group of people right behind them with nowhere to go.

R47, I love that video! They’re both adorable!

I’m very cautious on escalators.

And elevators, while they are much safer, are still scary. My friend’s toddler daughter laid her hand flat on the door of an elevator as it was opening. Her hand got wedged between the door and the pocket that it slides into. Poor kid.

There was just a news story about a house cleaner who got stuck in an elevator of a townhouse on a Friday. She was trapped there until Monday morning. I can’t imagine.

pile up in Rome

Oh, dear. In r77, I liked my own earlier post. I guess I really liked it. And I do.

The hipster is cute. The dog is adorable. And I love the hipster’s response. They’ve either been through this before, or the hipster is very in tune with his doggo.

This one is awful! Poor guy! I’ve been tempted to do similar. No more, though!

You know the post-Trump tell-alls are going to include a story about how Dim Dong Don threw a fit when told he couldn't get an airplane escalator on AF1 just like the Saudis have on their plane.

R12 that happened to my young cousin in Alexander’s white plains in the 1970s. Thank goodness his rain boot were a little big or his toes would have been crunched.

You also have to worry about feral schoolkids who love to push the emergency button for no reason.