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‘I use that to clean my shoes’: Woman finds out the real reason for the bristles on escalators

‘My foot got stuck in there. they had to stop the whole staircase to get it out.’

Photo of Melody Heald

Melody Heald

Two panel design with a close up of an escalator and the brush on the side of it with text reading 'Found out what the reason for the brushes is...', next to an image of a busy escalator

If you’ve ever ridden an escalator in a public space, like the mall or at an airport, you may have noticed the brushes on the edges. After discovering the purpose of escalator brushes, TikToker Maiken Christina (@maikenhuseboe) refuses to ever touch them again.

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In the short clip, Christina films herself on the escalator. “Never touching the brushes pm the side ever again after I found out what the reason for the brushes is,” she writes in the text overlay, zooming in on the black bristles alongside the escalator. Then, the content creator pans over to the other bristles on the opposite end.

The Daily Dot reached out to Christina via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment.

Theories

Christina’s video amassed 2.2 million views. Viewers proposed their own theories as Christina didn’t elaborate on “what the reason for the brushes is.”

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“It’s to prevent your clothes from getting stuck and pulled and ripped and ruined. Hope this helps,” one viewer wrote.

“In case anyone’s wondering, the brushes are there to deter you from getting too close to the edge thus preventing your shoelace or shoe from getting caught in the escalator,” another said.

“I think it’s protection to not get your pants or your shoes stuck in the escalator,” a third shared.

However, several viewers shared that they actually use the brushes to clean their shoes.

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The real reason

Most of the viewers are right. These brushes act as a safety measure to reduce entrapment. Entrapment is when an article of clothing or an extremity gets caught between the side of the escalator and the moving step. 

Some viewers learned the hard way about entrapment.

“I remember when i was like 6-7 i put my foot there and it sucked in my entire foot and it was bleeding a lot, my mom and uncle are doctors tho so they ran to the store to grab some tools to heal it,” one viewer shared.

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“My shoelace got caught in an escalator when I was like 7 and twisted my ankle completely around. Up side, it was in a macys at the mall and manager gave us $100 gift card lol,” another recalled.

According to Broderick Law Firm, 6,000 people are hospitalized yearly for escalator-related injuries. The most common injury is due to falls, and the second is entrapment. 

For your safety, avoid the escalator brushes.

@maikenhuseboe #forypupage #foryourepage #foryoupage #escalator #fyp ♬ Queen of Disaster – ella
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