Someday, someone other than Mike Bloomberg will be mayor of New York (unless he changes the law again). All hell shall doubtless break loose then—French fry festivals and post-prandial puffing just a start. But 2013 Hizzoner hopeful Scott Stringer wants to continue Mayor Mike’s savvy practice of mandating citizen safety. He’s got his paternal eye on elevators, where there just may be too many intuitionists these days. Though the number of accidents fell to 43 in 2011 (from 53 the year before), some months saw only 3,000 of the city’s 60,000 elevators inspected. The candidate wants to press up on that number.
Stringer may be gearing toward a national platform. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are about 900,000 elevators in the country, serving approximately 20,000 people a year. That’s 18 billion passenger trips, during which the elevators kill 27 people, on average. Not exactly second-hand smoke, but worth fixing.