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A good joke, I like it, but...

Look up videos of escalators breaking, it is a bit horrifying. all that moving metal eating itself.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=escalator+break...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnZGVZZLRA

I assume, like elevators, quite a bit has to go wrong before things get that bad.

Yep, that’s why I carefully chose the word “active”

The 1987 King's Cross fire at a London Tube station caused 31 deaths due to a lit match on a wooden escalator, which then spread due to trench effect.

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Cross_fire

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzM6O0mV5DA