To think my Dad was being totally reckless when he took DS upstairs in our local department store via the....

[DollyDaisy]

escalator? DS is 8 months old and was in his pram at the time!

I was furious as thought Dad was following me to the store's lift. But apparently it was quicker to take the direct route and he just wedged the bugaboo onto the escalator and up they went.

Mum was horrified too.....but the DH couldn't see the problem either. Or are all men in my family just totally clueless?

I'm not saying if you put a buggy on an escalator you will give babies beer it is just her tone which annoys me

Ah...found this - US Stats:

In a study of escalator deaths from 1992 to 2003, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported 24 non-work-related escalator deaths of passengers in the U.S., for an average of about two deaths per year. Eight of these deaths were the result of passengers having their clothing caught (?caught in/between? injuries) at the top or bottom of the escalator, or between the stair step and the side wall of the escalator. Sixteen deaths were a result of falls, some of which involved major head trauma. The CPSC estimates that falls cause 75 percent of the 6000 escalator injuries per year in the U.S., with entrapment causing 20 percent, and other causes at the root of the remaining five percent. ?Caught in? injuries tend to be more serious and are more frequently seen in children under the age of five.

The US is c 5-6 x the UK population.

I think buggies would count as being among the "other" 5%, so assuming the US and UK are similar then if every other was a buggy that would be about 50 - 60 injuries a year. I doubt it is every "other" though so I would doubt there are more than about 10 injuries a year in the UK.

Compare that to kids in a car, where the UK had 55 fatalities last year alone, several hundred Severely Injureds and several thousand other injured. In addition 26 child pedestrians were killed, 1,620 seriously injured, an total injuries were 7,903.

Thus you can see that the difference in risk is of the ratio of several hunderds to one.

Buggy fine imo; pram, depends on size of the pram. Jogging buggy -- I would say take the lift.

I had to fold the buggy and carry it and the wriggling toddler up the escalator once in the US when I was stopped by a security guard as we were about to mount the escalator. She wasn't impressed by my (imo) reasonable argument that I couldn't hold the 2 yo and the buggy and the handrail and insisted that it was safer for me to balance with no hand on the rail and only one arm around the struggling toddler than to keep the toddler in the buggy and hold it with one hand and the handrail with the other. Utterly stupid idea, but arguing with a large, armed woman in a uniform wasn't the better part of valour so I managed (just) to comply.

i must say the amount of people on here who have actually witnessed accidents of this nature would deffo make me think again were i in the position of having kids in buggies. i take a maclaren on the underground and sling it over my shoulder, but that's only possible since the kids got a bit older.

i wonder if this worry is now due to the ridiculous designs of some prams and buggies theses days

What is your point Whatmeworry? People accept that there is a risk of an accident happening in a car. We take sensible safety precautions - seatbelts, car seats, requiring people to have a license before they can drive alone, not driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and not talking on the phone. All people on here are suggesting is that it's sensible to follow the advised precautions when using an escalator. A lot of people don't but you also see a fair number of people yacking on their phones at the wheel - it doesn't make it advisable.
And of course the number of accidents on escalators is massively smaller than the number of accidents in their in cars. People spend thousands of times more time in their car than they do using escalators.

mathanxiety - would no staff/kind members of the public carry your buggy for you?

I've done it in JLs with my Bugaboo . So has my mum. Think DH would have a fit though if he knew!

What is your point Whatmeworry?

To establish a fact base so we are not all running around with the misconception that anecdotes = data. This data show that if you are going to have a flap about Great Risks To The PFB, this ain't one of them.

Well I have to say that I won't really lose sleep over someone who is acting like a tosser saying that I am not worth bothering about, whatmeworry dear

Comparing the number of accidents that happen in an average of 1 minute per day average on an escalator to X number of hours on average in a car doesn't equal data either.

I do it all the time, mainly because our local shopping centre only have 2 small lifts that are usually occupied with people going up and down to/from the car park. I have waited over 20 minutes for a lift before now and have had many rows with people who could probably get out and walk a flight of stairs to their cars so imo using the escalator is the easier option.

I do it all the time, mainly because our local shopping centre only have 2 small lifts that are usually occupied with people going up and down to/from the car park. I have waited over 20 minutes for a lift before now and have had many rows with people who could probably get out and walk a flight of stairs to their cars so imo using the escalator is the easier option.

Disclaimer. I have just been out for dinner and some very nice wine so am giggly and my retorts will be immature. But I meant it

I would never do it, and I cringe when I see others doing it but I also have an irrational fear of the esculator.

I tend to avoid using them if possible, but dd 5 loves the escualtor and my heart stops every time she happily insists on using them. I cant hold her hand on the same step as me, I make her go infront of me so I can see her feet.

Its silly I know but I make her hold on both rails and position her feet directly in the centre of the step, by the time that rigmarole is done she is rolling her eyes at me after she has taken a massive leap off the bottom right at the moment im talking her through getting of, telling herr not to jump just step off.

Oh god I live in London and have a bugaboo; what have I become! A few months ago I lived in Dorset and never felt the need to mention my pram brand.... It's a slippery slope; now I have an i phone and refer to it as such. I told DP we would turn into pretentious pricks if we moved here.

But I do take my pram on the tube, I don't see how I could get around if I didn't. DS (the grass) stands behind me loudly and disapprovingly saying "mummmeeee you can't do that, it's dangerouuuuus, the sign sayyyyyyyys" distracting me to the point of the whole thing becoming dangerous. Next time we are going out for the day I might suddenly agree with him then cancel our plans and take him and DD home and see if he understands why I have to ignore the signs some times.

Well I have to say that I won't really lose sleep over someone who is acting like a tosser saying that I am not worth bothering about, whatmeworry dear

Its interesting that the "anti-escalators" here are typically quite emotional, going for name calling, shouting, being "shocked" and "appalled" etc etc whereas the escalator users are fairly blase aboit it. (Same in the 2008 thread as well, so some things never change)

I can only assume the sharp difference in views is probably a combination of being less or more risk averse and (judging by this thread anyway) being less or more able to see different risks in relative perspective.

I wouldn't call spending hours researching the facts to win an argument about something blasé. I was hardly emotional either, was sitting in the pub giggling.

Or actually,< goes to sleep>

Btw re: Lifts, found this from the BBC - UK Health and Safety Executive figures show 266 people have been injured in "elevator accidents" since 2002, and four killed.

If you assume the UK is about 1/5th to 1/6th th size of the US, that's about the same level of fatality as US Escalators. There are c 6000 US escalator injuries from falls, which again dividing by 5 to 6 - puts them at about 1/4 as risky as escalators.

So lifts are safer, but not overwhelmingly so, and bear in mind that 75% of escalator injuries are from falls.

The other thing that the BBC article points out is that some people have phobias about being in confined spaces so its not a "for-everyone" option.

Thing is, if you live in London (which I did for many years) you just have to use the escalators. The escalators at Holborn are the best (unless you suffer from vertigo, of course) - they are huge!

And if you ever find yourself in Southgate, do admire the beautiful art deco lighting.

Needs must. You can't get everywhere on a bus, or in a car, or in a lift. Just gotta deal with it.

In 20 years in London I only ever saw two accidents on an escalator. One was a drunk bloke who fell just before the off, and his sheepskin coat got chewed up. But guess what! The escalator got jammed before he did.

The other was a tourist who loaded two huge suitcases on a down escalator - somehow failing to realise they would just fall off a cliff. Luckily the shouty commotion behind her alerted those below, who managed to stop the suitcases ploughing their way through many people to the bottom.

Ah, I miss London...

The most dangerous part of an escalator are the sides, its where you can get little feet trapped, yet I constantly see parents allowing their children to stand with the side of their feet against it all the time. Feet can be ripped off in that part.

I really doubt that 'Feet can be ripped off in that part.' FabbyChic
I think the people who design these things put a little more thought into it.

We had some children locally who had toes ripped off, awful.

If it's okay to ignore the notices on the escalators, can I ask how you feel about people with 14 items using the "nine items or fewer" check-outs? Normally, such rule-breaking gets short shrift on here.

throw them down the fucking esculators sozzled