Why do you have to keep to the right when going up and down stairs? Isn’t it okay to keep to the left when going up and down stairs?

Many people believe that when taking the escalator, you should "walk left and stand right", leaving the left side for passengers in a hurry, and say that public places should establish this kind of civilized awareness of "comity". Is this really correct?

Before answering this question, let’s take a look at a set of statistical data from a certain domestic subway: In the maintenance inventory of subway escalators, it was found that about 95% of the escalator’s right step chain is significantly more worn than the left side, resulting in The steps are slightly tilted, and the baffles and comb plates on both sides of the steps are increasingly worn.

Escalator maintenance professionals said that when designing escalators, although the maximum load capacity to withstand unbalanced pressure for a long time was taken into consideration, "walking left and standing right" will indeed cause excessive fatigue on some parts of the escalator. The impact shortens the life of the equipment and causes frequent escalator failures.

It is not scientific to leave one side of the escalator open for passage, because it is very unsafe to walk on the escalator. It is recommended that passengers try not to walk on the escalator. A maximum of two people can stand on one escalator step. People also have different opinions on whether "walking on the left and standing on the right" should be promoted. Some media reports believe that in addition to safety factors, "walking left and standing right" greatly wastes the load capacity of escalators, especially in some large stations with large crowds of people, where the passages and escalators are particularly long. If passengers only stand on the right side, the load capacity will be greatly wasted. Traffic will be slower. Instead, the slogan "Hold the handrails and stand still" was adopted. Some domestic and foreign subways that had previously advocated "walking on the left and standing on the right" no longer advocate walking on escalators.

I don’t know if you have noticed that the height of the steps of the escalator is different from the height of the steps of the stairs. The height of the steps of the escalator is 21cm, which is higher than the 15cm height required for stairs in public places. When walking on the escalator, it is easy to miss or trip over. It is also easy to bump into other passengers on the escalator during walking, causing accidents. In addition, the speed of elevators in shopping malls is 0.5 meters/second, while the speed of elevators in subways is 0.65-0.7 meters/second, which is a "high-speed elevator". If someone rushes up and down, it is easy to "take down a large piece" if they fall or have an emergency. Especially passengers who are in a hurry with their luggage are more likely to be in danger. From the perspective of safe travel, when riding the escalator, please hold the handrails and stand firmly, and pay attention to safety under your feet. For passengers who are in a hurry, it is safer to use the stairs instead of walking on the escalator. After all, safety is more important than time.