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I remember an old podcast/audiobook thingy that was about this exact thing. The escalators went out at the mall and everyone was trapped on the 2nd floor. Sort of a parody of post apocalyptic survivor shows
Escalators can be really dangerous when they break down. It's better to just stay upstairs if there's no other way down.
I disagree, I think that if you turn off the escalator it just activates the brakes as a fail-safe and turns into a set of stairs.
The brakes can fail, any weight on the escalator then slams to the bottom. I'm talking about a failure, not simply turning the escalator off. Never attempt to walk down an escalator that's experienced a mechanical failure. It's dangerous.
https://youtu.be/VWLb7P8MCck (edit: wrong video initially, this is more what I'm talking about though I can't seem to find the specific video i'm thinking of of an escalator violently accelerating.)
Found it! https://youtu.be/3lt3gELY3pU
It's scary as fuck.
I've also heard (though I'm not sure how true it is) that the motor going out can make the escalator belt go slack allowing the steps to flop to the sides.
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