# Help! I'm scared of escalators! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 28, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327 "2002-12-28T07:01:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/41 "2002-12-31T21:25:01Z")
hey \*\*theo[/], that sounds just like my wife. I, of course, am fearless with regards to street grates and escalators. But if you’re really scared, why not just hit the emergency stop button before you get on? If you’re quick, no one will even know it’s you… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/42 "2003-01-01T16:42:25Z")
Yep, some of them have a switch on them near the floor to turn them off. Also, someone said you can kick them & they stop. I haven’t tried that one as Im not sure where to kick. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/43 "2003-01-01T18:02:10Z")
You can add me to the list, can’t stand them. When I stand at the top looking down; my heart races, I feel dizzy and see myself falling head first down the steps. Moving steel steps with sharp edges are not designed for human conveyance! What would the injuries be from falling down an escalator? I have to believe they would be grisly. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/44 "2003-01-01T20:28:10Z")
I was talking about this thread with my mom and she reminded me that many years ago, my Aunt Jiggs fell _up_ an escalator. She tripped getting on and tumbled and staggered and fell until being deposited in a painful heap on the top steps. Compared to some of my own personal exploits, this is a walk in the park. I may be the most uncoordinated human on the planet. Following an old family tradition. [yoda]The klutz is strong in this one. Like his father this one he is. Hmm. [/yoda] b. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/45 "2003-01-01T20:37:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Violet \* > \*\*Then you have not been to London (England)? Some of the tube stations have THE longest escalators I have ever been on or seen! :eek: \*\* Pheh, the London tube has _nothing_ on the DC Metro in this regard. I remember reading a while ago that there are actually psychologists in the DC area who specialise in treating people afraid to ride them. Trust me on this F\_X, you really don’t wanna see these escalators. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/46 "2003-01-02T07:54:27Z")
**Billy Rubin** : Ouch! Your poor aunt! I hope never to do that… that would scare me off them for life, I tell you! **ruadh** , I don’t think I’d want to from your description! I’d imagine they’re at least ten feet long… :eek: F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/47 "2003-01-02T08:45:53Z")
**Flam** , I feel your pain, and I sympathize, but my only real problem with escalators is the people who get on them and then just **STAND THERE!** The point of moving stairs is to get you up and down faster! If you want to rest, go sit down out of the way or something. Also, I’m not too happy with the people who put their small children in strollers on the escalator in spite of the very plain warning signs to the contrary. Pick up the kid, fold the stroller, step aboard, or go find the elevator. More seriously, you are wise to be cautious on an escalator. Any time you are that close to interlocking moving parts you should respect them. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/48 "2003-01-02T09:13:26Z")
I have had a recurring nightmare where I ride a long escalator to the top but as soon as I get to the top of it, I begin to fall backwards – then I wake up. But, IRL I have no issues with riding escalators. When my sister was very young, 3 or 4 years old, (this would have been the early 70s) she let her hand “ride” on the moving handrail all the way underneath where it goes back into the return (I have no idea what that is called, if it even has a name…but I suspect you know what I am talking about) and it jammed her fingers up, badly bruising and cutting her. YET ANOTHER DANGER OF THESE DEATH-CONTRAPTIONS. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/49 "2003-01-02T13:36:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > **ruadh, I don’t think I’d want to from your description! I’d imagine they’re at least ten feet long… :eek:** Ten feet? _snort_ The escalator at the Wheaton stop is **230** feet. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/50 "2003-01-06T08:41:09Z")
Some pictures of the underside of an escalator, taken by the excellent infiltrators Ninj and Liz: [http://kittyempire.org/viewy/guyconcordia/](http://kittyempire.org/viewy/guyconcordia/) ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/51 "2003-01-06T19:30:44Z")
Where _are_ these moving walkways of legend y’all speak about? I’ve been to quite a few airports, including some big ones (Atlanta, BWI) and have never seen them. I’m just dyin’ to ride one. 'Cause unlike many of you people, I love escalators and their ilk! Oh, and a pox upon all escalator nazis who insist I’m supposed to **walk** when I’m on them! That defeats the whole point! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327/52 "2003-01-06T21:06:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tupug Anachi \* > \*\*The whole side of the damn shoe got caught between the treads and the side of the rail and I totally freaked out till we got it popped out. \*\* That happened to me when I was a a youngster. My shoelace got sucked in, and it pulled my shoe in sideways. That had the effect of actually tightening my shoe so I couldn’t get it off. Back then, they didn’t have all the safety aspects of current escalators, and to get the thing turned off my mother had to run to the bottom. By the time the thing was turned off, half of the sole of my shoe had been torn off and my heel had a few bleeding strips of flesh where the flesh was pinched between the stairs and the threshhold. This was thirty years ago. There is no way the escalators of today could manage such a feat. Thirty years later, and my mother still has a fear of escalators. Me? Heck, I was a typical boy. It didn’t phase me one bit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-im-scared-of-escalators/145327.md?page=2)