Attorney
Are you having trouble finding a working escalator in a DC Metro station? It is because there are not many of them. The result is thousands of commuters walking up and down immobilized escalators or bottlenecking through a single working one. Many are often forced to search for an elevator.
The DC Metro has 588 escalators total in its system. As of the date of this writing, 71 are under repair. Repairs fall under such categories as modernization, major repair, safety repair, customer incident and water intrusion to name a few. More than an inconvenience, the broken escalators can be somewhat of a road hazard for commuters.
Last October, a Metro escalator failed to brake and injured six people. It accelerated downward for 18 seconds resulting in a pedestrian pile-up at the bottom. Even worse, is that an independent firm warned of potential escalator brake failures several weeks before the accident. The Metro’s deputy general manager briefed the Metro’s board of directors on the findings but did not mention the warning about brake failure.
A Metro spokesperson called the independent report out of date and incomplete. Metro escalator and elevator accidents can be serious. A Washington, D.C. personal injury lawyer may be able to help. Contact William P. Lightfoot a Washington, D.C. personal injury attorney at Koonz, McKenney, Johnson & DePaolis.