A major Japanese escalator maker has launched a website explaining why it is dangerous to walk on escalators, as people continue to go up and down them despite railway companies asking them not to do so. What do you think about this?

Nobody want to wait the train for the next 10 or 20 minutes because missed train only 10-20 seconds, only just standing still on escalators.

There is nothing dangerous about walking up or down an escalator as long as you look where you're going!

walking or even running on escalators will be dangerous if you lose your footing or you're not looking where you're stepping. It's the same thing with running or walking on staircases. Also, I've always considered what is deemed "unsafe" in Japan is relatively safe for the rest of the world. I've seen lots of people in real life and in media, running and walking up the stairs and they're okay. I second @sakurasuki that if you wait for the escalator to do its job, you're already late for the train.

If they had told the truth and said, "Please lower our maintenance costs for us at the expense of your valuable commute time," it might not go over so well, to they're drumming up some bogus "danger" to get people to act against their own interests.

If the escalator makers don't want the uneven usage pattern of the weight of the standers always being on the same side, they can rotate the standing and walking sides at regular intervals. The current system of walking on one side and standing on the other is perfect and meets everyone's needs equally. If you have energy and no time, walk; if you have time and no energy, stand.

Where I live the closest station is 30 km away and most of the stations between Anamizu and Kanazawa have no escalators. When ever I need to take the train while I am in the Kansai region or while I am in Aichi most stations also have stairs. I always used the stairs over escalators I find it easier and less annoying.

Wonder how other countries around the world cope with these dangerous escalator walkers.

Well, I believe it is more dangerous to reach the top of the escalator, stop, and check to see if there are any messages on your phone. I keep seeing people do that...

i wonder how many fatalities per year there are from walking on escalators?

i wonder how many fatalities per year there are from walking on escalators?

There will be thousands of health-related deaths a year whose causes include a lack of exercise. It's not much, but walking on an escalator is exercise.

I recommend a simple sign on the bottom and top saying "don't walk" and an understanding from the public that this sign is to exempt the manufacturer and station from liability for every stupid, careless, or reckless thing somebody does on an escalator, which may or may not involve a mobile phone and/or bags or luggage. The sign is not an invitation to Karens to tell other people with energy in their legs and willingness to use it.

As written before, as long as people can lose significant amounts of time while changing trains that means the few seconds they gain while walking on the escalators are going to remain the reason to do it. Even if they make it physically impossible to do it (single person wide for example) that only means people are going to be running on the stairs instead, which obviously is not exactly a safe thing to do either.

If you are unable to walk up or down an escalator without injuring yourself then maybe you should stay safe at home. Stand on the left and walk on the right. Not rocket science.

I think I'll keep on walking up and down the escalator.

Stand on the left and walk on the right. Not rocket science.

That's Kanto science. Intelligent people (i.e those in Kansai) stand on the right and walk on the left.

Sorry, but if a train's coming and people are not moving, I will side-step them and walk up the steps. The danger is not in that, but in the people who are watching as they step onto or get off the escalator and wipe out, most commonly elderly carrying a lot of bags (from what I've seen).

Okay how about this... the trains are halted when cameras, which should be installed, show people riding the escalators to potentially ride said trains. Nope? Didn't think so. So, we'll walk, and we'll run. Get rid of the escalators if it's such a problem. I'll still run up or down the stairs.

Escalators exist purely for convenience.

Thus, they will be used by people for convenience.

It is convenient to save time by walking up / down an escalator.

A business should not inconvenience their customers.

If safety is truly their concern, Make. Safer. Escalators.

Well, on the one hand I get why they might be concerned. Japan has a huge ageing population and they have a tendency to be more accident prone on escalators. On the other hand, people have been walking up and down escalators since its invention. It's no more dangerous than taking the lift or the stairs. Just watch your step and you'll be grand. If they're that worried, they might want to consider substituting all the escalators for travelators but that would require a huge overhaul of all infrastructures. Not a viable solution.

I was going down the escalator to the platform at Kita Hiroshima Station in Hokkaido. The announcement declared that the escalator was "taihen kiken" (very dangerous) and advised passengers to “stand between the yellow lines.”

Being of a contrary kind of mind, I tried to stand outside the yellow lines, but finding it impossible, I gave up. However, I successfully made it down the "very dangerous" escalator and arrived on the platform.

A few seconds later, with no announcement whatsoever, a goods train hurtled through the station, certain death just centimetres away. There was no guard rail, no warning.

What does "taihen kiken" really mean, I wondered.

Walking down a moving escalator is no more dangerous than moving down an unmoving staircase. It's basically the same thing.

Some people just don't have the coordination, lol

toshihiro:

walking or even running on escalators will be dangerous if you lose your footing or you're not looking where you're stepping. It's the same thing with running or walking on staircases. 

Good luck in trying to get people not to run or walk on staircases.

I’ve never seen a sign that instructs not to walk up and down the escalators, but I do often see one to hold onto the handrails. Is that a Japanese way of indirectly saying not to move while in use?

 The danger is not in that, but in the people who are watching as they step onto or get off the escalator and wipe out, most commonly elderly carrying a lot of bags (from what I've seen).

Yep. This. And also people who stop directly at the top or bottom of an escalator while trying to decide which way to go, leaving nowhere to go for the people behind them on the escalator. Almost given up politely asking them to move.

Where people get hurt or even killed are at the ends of the escalators. Or even in the middle where they get their head stuck between a hanging partition and the rail.

But nobody's been hurt just by walking on them. I think they took a poll a few years ago and over 90% of the people think the current system is fine. We don't need anymore unnecessary rules.

I am all for crowd control measures. I have seen just a simple stumble end up a pile on causing serve injuries. EG. Person running down escalator stumbles and gabs hold of the nearest person that being a mother nursing a new born in a front carry nap pull her underneath him while other behind keep pile on. That mother could be an elderly women , child and invalid etc. Don,t run down escalators.

I think that's complete nonsense, as nobody, at least no one I know or can imagine, would ever access or read an escalator maker's website when being in front of an escalator and immediately going to use it, especially in rush hours when hundreds of people push from behind. I don't think they will generously wait for you reading that website.

Standing on both sides of the escalator is good for everyone. It's good for people carrying luggage, it's much better and safer for people with children, and it actually means a greater number of people can be moved in a shorter time.

If some people are in such a hurry that they have to walk or run up an escalator (effectively slowing everybody else down) why don't they just manage their time better and leave the house a minute or two earlier?

Or how about just having esculators that run at quicker than snail pace speed, as in all other countries. It's ridiculous and promotes impatience.

Another thing is to arrange train schedules so that one doesn't have to literally sprint to get to one's next connection.

Again, this is another example of adding unnecessary rules when us NOT required. The current system was the best, one side standing, another side to let people go when in the hurry.

Why do those companies now have to reinvent the wheel and toast bread?