Please explain how my arms or legs won't be easily cut off when using one of these? I've always wondered about the safety issues with these types of lifts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_Tower
There are a few safety features that help you to not get chopped in half. The front of each platform flaps up on a hinge, so if you got a limb under it while its moving down it just flaps up (the red board on the photo). Also there's a sort of trip wire along the upper edge (you can just see it in the photo) so if a limb of a rider is protruding while they're riding up and touches the wire the whole thing emergency stops.
We felt quite safe on it, and even perfected some fancy dismounting techniques (backward rolls and such) :)
Google gave me both a nice video showing a paternoster in action and a different way to (attempt to) improve safety: regulations. Apparently (https://youtu.be/1z7rp5OXFnU), in Frankfurt, Germany, they introduced rules such as 'one person in a cabin' and 'take your backpack off during a ride'.
They also require one to take an 'exam' that consists of reading a single-sheet of paper and deployed personnel checking that (I checked the date on the video; it's from nowhere near April, 1. Also, it's from a series called 'real lunacy')
"Im November 2011 wurde der „Paternoster-Führerschein“
allerdings wieder abgeschafft, da nun zusätzliche Warn-
und Hinweisschilder für die Sicherheit der Paternoster-
Benutzer ausreichend sein sollen."
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/PaternosteraufzugEdit: It's quite visible on this image if you know what to look for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster#/media/File:Paterno... Notice the (large-ish) "micro-switch" in front of the perforated panel on the right and quite large gap between cabin roof and paneling between cabins on the left.
If you are one of those people that lack both of them - you should take the stairs.
I mean, we could make stairs safer. We could install foam pits at every landing, cover the steps with tons of padding like at a climbing gym, then make everyone ascending or descending put on a harness and clip onto a guide wire. We have the technology to do all of those things, and it probably reduce the number of people who fall down the stairs and crack their skull on the concrete, but we don't. We don't because we accept that a few people dying on occasion is a better outcome than spending the time and money to completely sterilize our world.
And that's not even getting into the fact that people take fewer precautions when things seem safer...
- Slash military spending. (At least militant nations which send killers to other countries.)
- Use efficient transportation systems, not each person drives some clumsy car which is even mostly unused.
- More efficient healthcare system.