How many times have you ridden up or down an escalator and wondered what that little brush thing on the side is?

Well, unlike what the urban legend might have you thinking, it’s actually not for cleaning off your shoes. They’re actually called escalator brushes, and they’re there as a safety feature.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

So, how do they keep you safe exactly? Well, they’re there to make sure that loose clothing items, shoelaces, etc., don’t get caught in the gap. Most of us probably step onto an escalator and don’t give a second thought to the gap. But if an item of clothing or something were to get caught in it, not only could it be potentially dangerous for a person, but it could also damage the machine as well.

No one wants to get accidentally injured or be the reason why a piece of public machinery breaks down and inconveniences everyone else. That is why the escalator brushes exist.

Photo: flickr/Jason Brush

There are some escalators that even have a yellow border or other indicative measures to let you know that there is a gap to be mindful of, but not all of them have this.

The one thing that all escalators do have, is an escalator brush that runs all up and down the sides of the escalator and even down into the gears of where the escalators begin in order to make sure things don’t get stuck.

Photo: flickr/MIKI Yoshihito

It’s a good thing, too, if you were to accidentally get a body part in there, like a finger or a toe, it could cause some real serious damage. That’s really why they were invented in the first place. Many of the escalator accidents to have occurred have been a result of a person’s hand or foot becoming stuck in a wedge, so that is why the escalator brush was incorporated as a safety standard.

Definitely makes you want to think twice about safety when stepping onto an escalator now, doesn’t it?