Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Getting The Shaft

I found this article to be fascinating. A German man fell down an open elevator shaft, only to have his fall broken by the women who had fallen down the same shaft the day before. And what's even stranger is that he may have saved the woman's life. Who knows how long she would have been down there had this guy not fallen on her. She has got to be pretty tough to have survived falling 25 feet, laying injured and unnoticed for a full day, and then having a full grown man fall on top of her.

I suppose the important question at this point is: what is going on in Germany that people are falling down elevator shafts left and right? Is it that they don't effectively cordon off open shafts, or is it more a situation that Germans are so completely spellbound by an open elevator shaft that they are unable to keep themselves from going in for a closer look and falling in?

Which leads me to my next question: which country leads the world in elevator shaft accidents? Based on the evidence I have available, I would have to guess Germany.

No comments: