But don't tell that to Margaret Courts. Her encounter with a department store door in Minnesota left her with a broken hip, broken arm and bruises visible weeks later. Kathy Block became trapped in the doors of a membership warehouse store in California. As I got up to the door, I could see it was starting to close. Overall, automatic doors have a good safety record.
Accidents are rare.
But when they do happen, they can be very violent. One accident was caught on tape by a security camera at a Las Vegas casino. A woman walking into the casino was hit by the sliding door and thrown to the ground. Hard numbers are difficult to come by. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates there are hundreds, perhaps several thousand, of these accidents every year.