I promised this blog wouldn't descend into showing only pictures of funny signs

Because that's what every American who goes to Asia does, is nothing but "haha look at how they tried to phrase that."

But there the signs are, staring me down every day, taunting me, daring me to share them with the world.

And so I'll give in, but this sign isn't funny because of misspelling of words.  Its instead a great example of the overly cautious public safety campaigns you see in wealthy Asian countries.

What's going on here?  These people win the MTR escalator trophy because they are holding the handrail, standing still and "not looking only at your mobile phone".  And yes, the trophy is a gold sculpture of a person standing and holding a handrail on the escalator.

Upon further research I found there's even a video...who will win the prize for escalator safety??  Everyone holds on, everyone wins!
http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/main/hero_of_escalator_safety.html




At first this seemed a bit silly but then I started crunching numbers.  5 million people ride Hong Kong mass transit everyday.  Each station requires 1 escalator down and 1 up if not more, so we can estimate each rider takes around 3 escalator per journey.  So 15 million or more escalator rides are taken a day in Hong Kong.  What happens if but one out of 10,000 riders has an accident?  That would be 500 injuries a day!  And what if each of these 1 out of 10,000 riders takes out 10 other riders as they fall down the steps?  That would be 5,000 injuries a day.  And 50,000 riders daily use the Centrals-Mid Levels escalator system which is the largest outdoor escalator in the world.  This escalator cranks up 500 vertical feet while riders go up 20 consecutive escalators.  Could do a lot of damage in a place like that...

Then I started googling and found some quite troubling stories and statistics regarding escalator safety.  So on second thought, we need to be thankful for escalator safety man for reminding us of how to behave.





And look at all these people standing still, holding the handrail, and not looking ONLY at their mobile phones.  Most only look at their phones 80-95% of the time max.  They often look up to catch advertisements flashing by.  We're going to need a lot of trophies!
(Just noticed that solitary guy in the white coming down on the right...blatantly breaking each and every rule)






































Then I went to this non MTR escalator in Causeway Bay.  This shopping mall doesn't have signs reminding people of how to act.  And sure enough, look at this woman recklessly strolling off in hands free mode...

Thus its proved, escalator safety man is doing his job.  He should be all around town!

This is a horrible, blurry photo and it is hard to see how safe people are actually being.  But its a pretty sweet escalator right?  And on an escalator like that, well, no one needs a sign to know to hold on.

So, I reluctantly admit that elevator safety man is important. But, this sign.  Is this really necessary?



















And this one may not be funny to anyone but me.  I go by it each day and each time its more hilarious, though I can't say why.  And the elevator is still noisy.

Who is this "Thyssenkrupp?"  Is that really his name?  And under whose authority, Mr. Thyssenkrupp, do you ensure us that the lift is safe?  These are questions I fear I will never answer...