My mom and I had just finished grocery shopping and was taking the escalator down to the underground parking when there seemed to be some commotion at the bottom of the escalator. My shopping cart was full and we were nearing the end of the escalator. I tried slowing the cart down by pulling back but I couldn’t as the cart had magnetic wheels so we could only move forward.

The couple ahead of us was able to move out of the way with the other two people in front of them. The couple turned to us and said “she got her shoe lace stuck in the escalator.” The little girl, who looked no more than 5yrs old had both her shoe laces untied and one of them got caught in the escalator. Fortunately, we were all able to get off the escalator without any harm.

This reminded me of a time in 2014 where a 47 year old women lost her life when her scarf, coat and hair got caught in an escalator at the metro in Montreal which strangled her to death. Her scarf was 157cm, she was 160cm tall according to news reports; unfortunately, there were no eye witnesses at the time to confirm fully what happened.

On the way to my car, I was thinking that this incident could have been worse and could have happened to anyone including myself. It made me think about loose and long pieces of clothing like laces, scarfs, pants, skirts, coat belts etc. that could pose a safety hazard while walking, driving or riding on an escalator. I also thought about my 5 year old boy who hasn’t yet learned to tie his shoelaces yet.

So today I was reminded to be aware of our untied shoe laces & wearable items that could pose a risk to our safety. Tragic accidents can be avoided if we are all just a little more aware.