Would You Do This?
Entry posted by Ashoka the Great
653 views
Alright.....I need a bit of a run-up for this.
I'm from Toronto, Canada's largest city. This is what our skyline looks like:
That huge needle is the CN Tower. Now, I could give you the numbers as to its height and so on, but raw numbers mean nothing. Instead, I ask you to think in relative terms.
See that white office tower just right of center? That's the Bank of Montreal building. It is seventy-two stories tall. Knowing this should help you appreciate the "holy-crap-that's-big" nature of the CN Tower.
In August the CN Tower will be adding a new 'feature'. While tethered (supposedly firmly), people will be given the opportunity to walk around the outside. I kid you not. The outside.
Here's the mock-up that's being used to show what this will look like:
Don't get me wrong. I am definitely not afraid of heights. I have been up the CN Tower many, many times since it opened in 1976. The view is simply amazing.
What I am afraid of is wide-open heights. A few years ago the CN Tower installed clear acrylic floors in part of their observation deck. Although I'm well aware that said floors could support several full-grown elephants, looking straight down makes me feel rather....well, not quite right.
According to the folks who run the CN Tower, advance sales of tickets for this....attraction?....have been much better than anticipated. While I understand the whole bravado thing that might lead many to do this, here are some of the things I thought of when it was announced:
1. Presumably there is some kind of mechanism in place to keep people moving in the same direction. Otherwise you could have a line of people waiting.
2. So you're tethered in. You're walking around. You slip. And, for a second or two, you feel like you're going to fall to your death. Oh boy. Hope you brought some flushable wipes.
3. What happens if someone gets half-way around and panics? They stand there, frozen in fear. What then? Is there some kind of mechanical thing that will essentially drag them around to the other side? And will EMTs be on hand to give CPR to the poor person whose heart stopped when they were dragged around with their feet hanging over the edge?
Seriously....this thing just screams "lawsuit" the more I think about it. It doesn't matter if people sign a waiver of some kind. If at some point there is some kind of flaw that kills someone, there will be a lawsuit.
So....would you?
23 Comments
Recommended Comments