Crocs: The Cause of Shoe Entrapments!
Most of you know what Croc shoes are and in case you don’t they are the latest fashion must have, made of flexible soft, synthetic resin which makes for one very comfortable shoe. They are popular amongst adults as well as young children, being made in sizes as small as 4/5 which was released this past Spring. However, while they are the must have of the season they are in the hot-seat for the reason why shoe entrapment’s on escalators has risen in recent months. In recent news, a four year old boy wearing Crocs got his foot stuck in an escalator at a mall in Northern Virgina, and while his mother was able to yank him free he did suffer some heavy bleeding due to his toenail being ripped off…the supposed cause? The Croc shoes he was wearing.
It is being speculated that because of the Crocs flexibility and grip that the shoes are getting caught in the teeth at the top or bottom of the escalator, causing serious injuries if the person is not freed. However, I beg to differ on this…while the Crocs may cause a slight problem when it comes to the “teeth” of an escalator (which has yet to be “proven”), I bet you $20 that most of the injuries especially those involving young children (which most of them were) happened because the child was bouncing around on the escalator and/or not behaving in a proper manner when it comes to riding on an escalator. To put the Croc shoe in the hot seat as the reason why shoe entrapment has risen is wrong because it could happen with any shoe: how about a loose shoelace getting caught in the escalator, are you going to turn around and say that tennis shoes or any shoes with laces are dangerous to wear on the escalator? Not to mention, all escalators have warning signs clearly printed on them before you step on that states one should keep hands and feet away from the edges of the escalator. If you practice caution, I am sure these injuries would have not occurred and if you have a young child you can easily hold them in your arms should you feel that they could be injured.
Not to mention, it has been stated by The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, that escalator accidents caused more than 10,000 injuries in the last year, HOWEVER, the agency only has a few records specific to shoe problems; only two shoe entrapment’s have been reported by consumers since the beginning of 2006. The mother of the boy who got his foot caught was made aware of the possibility that his shoes caused the injury when she took him in to the doctors, she then pulled up Crocs + escalators on the Internet and found many articles about the issue…I think she then believed, without really knowing, that the Crocs were to blame.
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