The United Nations believes it has solved the mystery of why an escalator abruptly stopped shortly after Donald Trump stepped onto it on Tuesday - his videographer may have accidentally triggered a safety mechanism.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a readout of the escalator’s central processing unit indicated it “had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator.”
He said Trump’s videographer had been traveling backwards up the escalator to capture his arrival with First Lady Melania Trump.
Technically, you shouldn’t walk on stopped escalators. There’s the obvious (though less bothersome) issue of the uneven and higher-than-normal rise…but also that escalators aren’t designed for a static load, and other components can suddenly fail, leading to a partial collapse.
There’s also the issue that the escalator could suddenly start moving again, which, if you’re using them as stairs, could really throw you off (in more ways than one).
Not trying to side with Trump here…not at all…just pointing out the lesser-known safety concerns of stopped escalators. They aren’t “temporarily stairs”, like Mitch said…especially in high traffic areas, where people of mixed physical capabilities may be using them.
I think the whole world knows by now we couldn’t get that lucky 🤣