Woman in wheelchair saved from fall in elevator shaft

Posted by greg
June 27, 2008

 Newsday.com reports on a woman in Atlantic City that fell into an elevator shaft when her wheelchair didn’t stop at the elevator doors. Witnesses reported that the woman was rushing to catch the elevator but just missed it. The doors closed but the woman did not stop in her powered wheelchair. The chair crashed into the doors which bucked and she fell 30 feet onto the descending elevator with her wheelchair in tow. After falling on top of the elevator her wheelchair then fell on top of the woman severely injuring her. Two hotel employees that witnessed the incident rushed to help her but also fell into the elevator shaft and were injured. The fire department finally arrived and were able to pull the disabled woman and the two hotel employees from the elevator shaft. The incident is presently under investigation because the elevator doors are supposed to be strong enough to stop a wheelchair from breaching them.

 
While we are all in a hurry, those in powered wheelchairs must be extra careful. Most of the powered wheelchairs on the market do not have the best brakes and it can take some time to come to a complete stop. If you are driving on the ground this may not be an issue, but in a tall building can get you in trouble if you are not careful. In this case the woman probably should have just slowed down and waited for the next elevator From the report, it appears that she was moving at maximum speed and did not give herself space to stop. Just like a car or bike, we must give ourselves space to slowdown and stop so we are safe and we don’t crash into others. This also underscores that things like elevator doors are not as sturdy and safe as one would like to think. Obviously one would want to make sure and not crash into any elevator door because it is probable that most elevator doors are weak and not able to stop something like a moving wheelchair.
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