First a little update about the Typhoon Wilpa. Shanghai did not take the direct hit, or use my now retired boss words “we dodged another bullet”, he was referring to his condo at Florida during Hurricane season. More importantly, Shanghai suffered minimal human loss because of comprehensive preparation before the storm. More than 290,000 people moved out of vulnerable area. Unlike in the past, human lives are more treasured in China nowadays compared to properties. How is this related to Crocs?
Well, recently there are lots of accicent reports regarding Crocs wearing kids got hurt taking escalators. I read an earlier report and wrote a post about it. But now it seems more and more parents are worrying about the “safety of crocs”. I think they are shooting at the wrong target. I believe the escalator safety is a problem we have ignored from time to time, and now with the kidding wearing Crocs, this problem becomes more obvious.
These days I got more oppertunities to ride escalators because I work at Cloud 9. There is a huge escalator which takes one from the 1st floor to 4th floor. When I took it the first time, I was a bit shaky, because of its height. I don’t have kids, but I think if I ever take my niece there, I will probablly hold her instead of let her ride on her own.
What am I trying to get? Escalator itself could be very dangerous, even without Crocs in the picture. One could get hurt during “get on”, or “get off”, or in the middle, if one does not pay attention, or if he/she slipped.
I remember one time, in Shanghai railway station, we took the “down” escalator to the taxi place. The waiting lane for the taxi is too long and it extended all the until the exit of escalator, so basically we can not get off at the end of escalator. With the escalator moving, we almost fell.
So in summary:
Escalator (itself): dangerous
Crocs (itself): not dangerous
Kids on escalator: very dangerous
Crocs wearing kids on escalator: very dangerous
and watch out your kids or (old) parents in the escalator !!!