Escalators are one of the greatest conveniences of city living, and Singapore has some of the longest ones I have seen.
Innocent as they may appear, they can be very dangerous if they are misused:
Unknowingly (as children in their ignorance, may do)
OR
Knowingly (as many juveniles in the West do, with pranks like 'planking' -- which is lying flat across the tops of the handrails while the escalator is moving, or 'spinning' -- which is lying across two adjacent handrails of escalators, one moving up and the other moving down, and letting the opposite motion rotate the body around).
PLEASE DON'T TRY ANY OF THESE IN SINGAPORE -- That may be fastest trip to jail if not to the hospital!I thought I had covered most of the hazards in my slide below when I talk about it:
BUT THERE IS MORE!
I caught the news item below just now! Do we even know about it let alone worry about it?
.jpg)
MORAL: Don't be too casual with escalators; unlike stairs, they don't have landings every couple of metres! A fall will not only take down the careless or unlucky person who falls, but also everybody who is in his/her way until the very bottom -- this has resulted in major injuries and deaths around the world!
Some interesting links to watch others fall down:
1. Boy with crutches falls down, kidding around!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=kXvAD1UcGeI2. Drunk lad falls from 20ft (5m) off of escalator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V53AJvozeOY3. Kid playing along escalator falls and saved by shopkeeper (Wait for the ad to be over!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10166217