"Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some [explicative deleted] kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator."
The above quote comes from my favorite of the Kevin Smith oeuvre, Mallrats, which stars a pre-My Name is Earl Jason Lee. Released in 1995, writer/director Smith had no way of knowing that a new threat to escalator safety was looming in the distant future ..
. the ubiquitous (NASDAQ: ) shoes.
I'm not a mother, myself, but evidently these brightly colored clog-esque creations can be a parent's worst nightmare (I am an attorney's wife, so can I call them a lawsuit waiting to happen?
). The shoes, while mystifyingly fashionable and in high demand, can cause playground accidents and lead to uncomfortable kids, when the holed footwear becomes full of playground detritus.
But shoes full of mulch and pebbles pale in comparison to a major injury that could befall a Crocs wearer on an escalator.
A recent ABC News report warned of the grisly scenario where the rubbery shoes become , trapping the child's foot. While nearly 250 million people zoom up and down escalators each day, only a small number of Croc-related mishaps have been reported. But it is a preventable accident, and one of which parents (and Croc wearers) should be aware.
Avoid wearing Crocs to the mall, or if you must, keep to the center of the escalator, pay attention when it is time to step off, and remember, in the rare event of an accident, there is an emergency shut-off switch on all escalators.
The report warns that Crocs aren't the only shoes that pose a danger on escalators. Any soft, pliable shoe (including flip flops) poses a similar threat.
Guess I'll be leaving my jellie shoes at home the next time I have to take the subway.
Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at .
News RSS
Thank you
2. We posted on this topic back of Crocs and Escalators in September of last year. It is sad to hear about these accidents with kids wearing Crocs getting caught in an escalator.
I wonder what the percentage is of the total accidents involve Crocs vs. other types of shoes. Think about the number of times you hear about shoelaces getting caught in escalators.
Parents need to careful and make sure no matter what shoes kids are wearing.
3. Thank you for posting this information.
If you go to www.escalatorparts.com and click on the link Step Safety Side Plates you should find its content very interesting.
Sincerely, Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password.
To leave another comment, just use that password.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments.
Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted no need to use p or br tags.