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There has to be way to much friction in the mechanics for that to happen. No?

Mitch. One of the greats. Uncopyable.

Nope - Elevator failure in Hong Kong

Do escalators not come with a ratcheting mechanism to prevent exactly that from happening? Seems to me like a serious design error if not..

I guess they were designed to run in both directions, meaning you can't mechanically lock the "down" direction.

I mean, it's probably a Chinese escalator. We didn't get the term "Shenzhen Quality" out of thin air.

That seems a bit of a misnomer when everything is made in Shenzen.

Funny, it seems increasingly apt to me.

Most escalators used outside of China are not made in Shenzhen.

/s/Elevator/Escalator/

Just sayin', if I were building an escalator I would definitely use a wormdrive (or similar) gearbox, which physically cannot be backdriven.