Okay, so it was only about a 20’ drop or so, call it a short escalator, but the last time I did this when I was late for work (about 4 years ago) and forgot about the physics of a long ramp ending in a rapid decelleration.
I decided to “ride the rail” as I had done as a teenager. Visualize those nuts grinding skateboard rails, but with my butt. You know what I’m talking about.
I fell on my butt.
Then my face hit the ground. Luckily, I had my arms up. Nothing worse than bruises.
If anything happen and you got hurt or hurt someone else, would the city have been sued. Or who would have to clean up you blood, that is a bio waste. The cost to the city in this economy could be huge.
I am having trouble seeing how this would not be a safety hazard. Perhaps I’m just a klutz, but I can see how this behavior would likely result in me being thrown on my ass. Also, if other people were on the escalator, they could get hurt. At the very least, if someone came by and wanted to go up while you were performing your shenanigans, they would have to wait for you. That hardly seems fair to them.
So if you decide to go the wrong way down an escalator you need the courtesy to stop your plan if you will inconvenience others coming up, that’s fair enough, but I can’t see any issue if you’re prepared to take the risk of your shortcut becoming a long cut.
For a physically fit person there is no safety hazard. If folks are coming up the other way and they don’t see you, then just stop!
Comparing it to driving the wrong way down a freeway is silly. The closing speeds and reactions required are way out, and furthermore typical speeds on those roads would be such that in a lot of circumstances it would be impossible for oncoming cars to stop in time, especially after getting over the surprise of seeing you. That doesn’t apply to escalators.
Or he assumed that it was perfectly legal, a reasonable assumption if one is not familiar with the statute (and from the titling of the statute, it probably still is legal)
There is a tube station I use most weekdays (Holborn if anyone is interested), and local practice is for a lot of us commuters to go the wrong way up a staircase/passageway (off the westbound central line late afternoon, again if anyone wants to go along and have a look - if you’re a tourist in London why not combine it with a visit to the rather excellent British Museum :D) essentially as an unofficial tidal flow system as the volume of traffic in one direction is so much heavier. There are plenty of No Entry signs, but neither police nor London Underground staff stop us because there is no safety hazard created, and I very much doubt any law whatsoever is being broken.
No escalators involved, but similar sort of thing.
I see you are getting a lot of opinions about whether or not you should have done what you did, or been cited for it; that all belongs somewhere else on this board. I am curious about what, if anything, your geezer status has to do with it.
I have been occasionally tempted to use the wrong escalator myself, particularly when it’s faster for me to fly down the wrong one than wait for plodders on the correct one. Fortunately, stairs are usually there as an alternative. I am also of the surly personality that would push your sorry ass over the edge if you tried to fly down while I was flying up, and common courtesy plus a natural predilection for an orderly society is what keeps me from using the wrong escalator regardless of how tempting it is. I find it irritating that the polloi think they should be able to do anything that’s not explicitly “illegal” even when it is stupid, disruptive, and careless. As I said, that part of the thread belongs elsewhere.
To your question of whether or not there is an ordinance…am I missing something here? For what were you cited? Perhaps this is your opportunity to educate us. If there isn’t a ordinance and you were cited in error, by all means educate us.
Everything is a “safety hazard” it isn’t a yes/no concept, it’s a continuum. Walking down a regular flight of stairs involves the risk of falling down. Running down stairs involves a higher risk. Running down stairs that aren’t sized like normal stairs (as in a stopped escalator) is a still higher risk. Running down those oversized stairs while they’re moving the opposite way is a even higher risk than that.
Considering that people are more than willing sue the government over BS incidents like “I fell down your escalator”, the government has the right to restrict how people use that property.
OP says he was cited for misuse of CTA property. I guess you missed that in your rush to add comments to the thread you yourself acknowledge should be elsewhere.
As for me, I find “misuse of property” to be a bit vague. I suppose one could argue washing your hands in a drinking fountain could constitute misuse of property.
Well, the legal aspects are pretty clear. There apparently is some kind of statute that says it’s prohibited to “misuse” CTA property, which leaves it up to the police to decide exactly what “misuse” means on the spot. It’s a subjective call, and a judge might find it a little harsh. As mentioned above, what if I wash my hands in a CTA water fountain? Is that “misuse”? What if I run up a stairway, instead of walking? Is that misuse? What if I decided to sit down on an El platform and read the newspaper for a few hours instead of just waiting for the next train? Is that “misuse”?
I can understand how someone going up the escalator at the moment the OP went down would be annoyed and inconvenienced, but it seems the OP was going down an empty escalator. It’s a question of safety, and safety is one purpose of the police that is overlooked in some police departments. Some police seem to be interested only in finding violations that will get a conviction or fine. The CTA police could’ve just said to the OP, “Hey, don’t do that. That’s not safe.” Or something to that effect.
I’ve had a couple of experiences with the L.A.P.D. where they did that. I once went for a bike ride at night in the Pico-Union area, and the battery in my bike light died. So some cops stopped me and told me I needed a light, and I explained the situation. But then they said I shouldn’t be riding around there because it’s a gang area (they just assumed that I wasn’t in a gang myself). But they didn’t issue me a ticket or anything.
In most public places they post signs saying things like “No skateboarding in this place,” so it’s very clear that if you do skateboard there, you’ll be cited. But I seriously doubt it was posted that, “No going down the up escalator,” etc. It’s not a good idea, but I don’t think he deserved a $50 ticket. Just a stern warning.
If the OP knows what he was cited for, then, what is the GQ?
This belongs either in the pit as RO, or GD: “Going down the up escalator is not misuse of CTA property.”
I was looking to find out if he knows exactly what ordinance was cited and exactly what it says…would that not be on the ticket?
Given that the OP was not cited for the offense mentioned in the first question, but for a less specific one, that is pretty good evidence that the answer to the first question is “no.”
Since the OP has not returned to offer much clarification, and since no one else has produced much in the way of relevant factual information, I’m going to close this thread.
If the OP wishes more information on specific legal issues involved, he is welcome to open another GQ thread without the rant. If he wishes to rant about the injustice of the matter, he should open a thread in the BBQ Pit.
