The current situation of walking left and standing right

Walking on an escalator can easily lead to loss of balance, leading to accidents. It can also lead to uneven distribution of gravity, increasing the chance that the escalator will be easily damaged.

In Hong Kong, which is regarded by many as a model of "walking on the left and standing on the right", the government and the subway have no longer advocated this behavior in recent years. Under the guidance of the government, the MTR Corporation, the operator of Hong Kong's subway, has no longer advocated "walking left and standing right" in recent years, and replaced it with the slogan "hold the handrail and stand still (stand still)". A spokesman for the Electrical and Mechanical Department, the Hong Kong government agency responsible for elevator safety, said the department does not encourage people to walk on escalators because walkers are prone to losing their balance and falling. The Electrical and Mechanical Department later issued special guidelines stating that walking on escalators is a dangerous behavior.

Taipei MRT Corporation currently no longer publicizes this measure for the above reasons. However, most passengers have developed the habit of walking left and standing right.

After an escalator accident occurred at the Beijing Subway Zoo Station in 2011, the Beijing Times pointed out that walking left and standing right is unsafe behavior and may be one of the causes of the escalator accident.

Walking left and standing right is one of the urban civilized behaviors promoted by Shanghai to welcome China's 2010 Shanghai World Expo. In order to promote the standard of "walking left and standing right", the slogan "walking left and standing right" is commonly seen on Shanghai rail transit escalators. It means that even if a passenger is unstable and falls backward, the passengers behind him can support him and there will be no domino effect. , beneficial to safety. However, since December 2012, because the escalator steps are too large and unsafe to walk on, Shanghai Rail Transit no longer emphasizes walking on the left and standing on the right. Some stickers originally posted on escalators advocating walking on the left and standing on the right have been removed.

All escalators in Guangzhou Metro have posted the slogan "Please pay attention to safety, stand firm and steady" to guide passengers to use escalators safely. Many passengers do not have the good habit of grabbing the handrails, which makes them prone to accidents in the event of an emergency. Especially for passengers holding babies, be sure not to hold the baby with both hands and forget to hold the armrests steady. Guangzhou Metro Company staff reminded that "walking left and standing right" is not a "safety rule". The subway believes that the most important thing is to stand firm and support yourself.