Let the truth be known!

Riders don’t have to be cautious
on escalators.

Escalators are six-ton moving machines and
should be treated as such. Pay the same attention to an escalator as you would to a
moving bus.

The steps will flatten out and all the
people will slide down.

This is impossible. Each step is a full triangular structure consisting of tread and riser supported on a track and cannot flatten out.

Escalators move too fast.

Escalators move at only 2 times normal
walking speeds. The misconception is probably due to the visual perception created when you are standing still and everything else appears to be moving.

The steps fall into the basement and have
to be restacked every morning.

Escalator steps move on a continuous chain
system. At the end they rotate under and
continue on the chain and reappear at the
opposite end.

Escalators can reach out and grab you.

No part of an escalator can do this. Riders
should keep away from the sides and hold
handrails. Loose clothes, untied or long
shoelaces, high heels, long hair, long jewelry, etc. can get caught in an escalator.

Escalators will stop and restart themselves.

Escalators only stop if the STOP button is
pushed, the overspeed safety switch is tripped, or an obstruction is encountered. Once stopped, escalators can only be restarted by a trained professional.

If an escalator is standing still, it is just a set of stairs.

Not at all! Escalator steps are not the correct height for normal walking and should not be used in that manner. The risk of tripping and falling is greatly increased.

Pushing the DOOR CLOSE button closes the
doors faster.

This may cause the doors to close sooner, but not at a faster speed. However, if a buzzer sounds, the doors may close sooner, so it is important to get out of the doorway as quickly as possible.

Elevators are held up by only one rope that can break.

Elevators are supported by multiple steel
cables. Each cable alone can support a fully
loaded car.

An overcrowded elevator will fall.

This will not happen. An overloaded elevator
will usually not move. The doors will stay open and a buzzer may ring until enough people get off the elevator to reduce weight.

Some people believe they have been in an
elevator when the elevator car fell several
floors and then “caught itself.” This cannot happen due to “safeties” on elevator cars. Elevator experts believe people may think this happened because they 1) rode
an elevator going in a different direction than expected, or 2) saw the elevator floor indicator lights flash by quickly, which gave the visual impression of falling.

The hall doors can open when an elevator is not there.

The elevator car controls whether the hall
doors open. If the car is not at the landing, the hall doors can’t open because their opening can only be triggered by the arriving car engaging an unlocking device after the elevator has stopped at the landing.

If an elevator is stuck between floors, riders are in danger of falling and should try to exit.

Absolutely not! Leaving the car on your own
could result in injury. The safest place is inside the car. Ring the alarm and/or use the telephone or intercom, and wait for help. Leave the car only with the assistance of professional rescuers.

Pushing the hall call button repeatedly will
make the elevator appear faster.

The call is registered just once; repeated
button-pushing won’t bring an elevator sooner.

I have learned that escalators are not out to get me.

But what of turnstiles doors, revolving restaurants and blood pressure cuffs? I'm sure they're all evil.

I believe I've stated on several occasions my affection for riding escalators. So here's an 'I told ya so' for all the haters out there.

Amazingly Stupid Things I Have Done As A Kid

Elevator surfing. This is when you get on to the top of an elevator, ride it as it goes up and down and then jump to the top of another MOVING elevator

I don't see how any of these wierd facts can support escalator wonderment... Except for that lie about them not being able to reach out and grab you, that is...

Them buggers, they got themselves some teeth, they do.

But they're steps. And they move!!

As a kid, my hand got stuck in one of those grocery store moving belt thingies... it was scary at the time.

I also used to think that the automatic doors at stores opened because you stepped on the rubber mat. Who knows... I'm so old, they probably did at the time!

Funny you should post this, the elevators are broken here at work and it's a pain in the ass to walk up 11 flights of stairs when you're wearing heels....

I hear ya on that one, but it's a good workout for the thighs and calves, and we all must maintain our figures - not everyone has a "Bunmaster" waiting for them at their workdesk like I do...

Um, I mean, Yeah, that must be tough - For a Girl...

You know, I just feel the hole getting deeper all around me. I'm just going to stop now.

Maybe the escalator will pull you under soon.

i have no problem with the way my thighs & calves look, but it's because of the damn shoes i wear to work... i'm NOT climbing up 11 flights of stairs. call me lazy!

you would think of six elevators in this building, at least one of them would work properly but nope. the elevator will just randomly stop on each floor.

they should build an escaltor outside of this building. that would be fun.

I think your entire building should ascend floors using a complicated system of Chutes and Ladders.

Dice rolls optional.

not a year goes by, not a year that i dont hear about a kid getting mangled in some escalator. now i dont care which, but some parent needs to teach that child to fear and respect that escalator.

-banky

So I live in Vermont, right? And, I don't know, I guess Vermont doesn't have the highest escalator population or something. Right around the time we moved here (I was eight or nine), we took one of my friends to a mall in Massachusetts and while stepping onto the escalator my friend exclaimed "Hey! I've been on one of these before?"

And that was the birth of my escalator joke.

I HATE when people do this, but moreso at crosswalk lights. I'm always like "keep on pressing it, idiot".



I think they used to but now they have better technology, i.e. infrared beams.

I was under the impression that the "Door Close" button was similar to the thermostat in office buildings in that they are for decorative purposes for those who feel the need to meddle despite serving no actual function.

When I was about 5, I was "helping" people down the escalator by moving my hand along the handrail at the bottom, and my hand got stuck where the handrail enters the bottom part.

Clearly these facts are meaningless propaganda meant to hide the truth about escalators. They are dangerous, people!

That's what I was trying to tell them...

Theyse got teeth, they do.

I was going up this escalator once, and I tripped and fell down the stairs for an hour and a half.

(Joke stolen from comedian Dmitri Martin.)



Anybody remember an old mid-'80s Saturday Night Live film where Rich Hall cut a pair of insoles out of one of these rubber mats and made doors open everywhere he walked?

yes, this was hilarious. my favorite part is when the car doors open. it gets me every time.

wow, that was snl? i totally remember the bit, but had no idea what it was from

Rich Hall also did a hysterical film demonstrating the dangers of kids eating food-shaped refrigerator magnets. Getting stuck to the sides of passing vans, spontaneously facing north, stuff like that.

haha, i've never seen that one, but now i must.

Oooh! And he comes out swinging with the maple syrup bit!

(I completely lack creative thought tonight, otherwise I might have had something better to say)