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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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. 
Ten feet? snort The escalator at the Wheaton stop is 230 feet.
Some pictures of the underside of an escalator, taken by the excellent infiltrators Ninj and Liz:
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! 
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.