I was hurt on malfunctioning escalator on Metro- this could have been your child- BEWARE!

[sluces]

Dec 10th: During rush hour, on the Gallery-Place Chinatown Metro, I was injured while on an escalator at Metro. The escalator was stationary, people were walking up, then it suddenly started freewheeling backwards, it was going way to fast to just be running normally in reverse. People began screaming, as folks started piling up at the bottom. I was injured as I and others plummeted down for approximately 8 seconds. Stander-bys tried to hit the emergency brake- it did not work! We were all pretty hysterical and everyone started sobbing and trying to help people up, as a few elderly folk were sprawled out on top of each other- all were traumatized! I was taken to the emergency room.

I'm quite curious what the cause was? It seems that this can be pretty traumatic to experience something you're relying on for your safety; to fail this way. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are approximately 6,000 hospital emergency room treated injuries associated with escalator incidents annually nationwide. All I keep thinking about is that it could have been our daughter or my pregnant friends our parents on that nightmare of an escalator. The Washington Post ran a story and they are looking at this as a larger issue- how could there have been no signs stating the thing was a hazard! Why are they putting band-aids on these things! The employees of Metro said- "they have no money to get new ones so we just put band aids on it!?" wow! s-c-a-r-y

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic...121102950.html?wprss=rss_metro

[Anonymous]

Metro escalators are a special problem and I totally agree that it's outrageous how decrepit the system is. I once saw a man tumble down the Dupont escalator (which was not working) when he slipped on some snow. It was horrifying. I hope the OP is OK and maybe this will shock the Metro authorities to do something about this negligence.

But I also wanted to weigh in and warn parents especially how dangerous escalators can be. My mother fell once on an airport escalator and gashed her leg - in this case, it was basically her fault because she was rushing to see me and wearing backless shoes that tripped her up. What I'll never forget though is what a nasty injury she received, and as a result I try extra hard to make sure my kids behave reallly well on escalators. Left to their own devices, they would treat the escalator like a big toy, and frankly I see lots of kids who do that in malls or bookstores. We should all be so careful especially with our kids on every escalator - these are powerful machines and one wrong step can result in terrible injuries.

[Anonymous]

Yikes! I heard about this incident on the news on the way in to work today. I hope you are ok. I was on an escalator at metro once that was stopped and then started going -- luckily in the proper direction. But it did make me think. I wish there were more regular stairs at metro stations.

[Anonymous]

I would be handing over my medical bills to Metro and asking them to pay up.

[Anonymous]

The lawyers handling liablility cases are going to have a field day with this one.

But you're right OP - a very dangerous situation for anybody - child, elderly, a person with their hands full, or any unsuspecting commuter.

[Anonymous]

OP, I am glad you are okay!!!!

[Anonymous]

Escalators can indeed be very dangerous. My brother was seriously injured on one as a child. He didn't step off at the end, and a loose piece of rubber on his shoe got pulled under the metal plate, which was not fastened on properly. His shoe was destroyed, and his foot mangled. Fortunately, the emergency stop did work, which probably saved his foot. He's fine now, but everyone in my family is very careful about getting on and off escalators and teaching our children how to ride safely.

[Anonymous]

My sister had her foot sucked in by an untied shoelace.