The "Door Close" button in elevators doesn't work most of the time.

   

The button doesn't do anything in elevators made after the 1990s. It's only enabled if you use an emergency key. Aside from that the button just gives elevator users the illusion of control.

While you don't really have control over when the doors close, elevators are a lot safer than people think. They are safer than escalators: There are 20 times as many elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents happen on elevators than escalators. Elevators are also much safer than cars. As many people die every 5 hours from car accidents as die every year from elevators.

Also, most people who die in elevators are elevator technicians. And the only known instance of an elevator free-falling (all of its cables snapped) was in 1945 when a B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building. The woman in that elevator fell 75 stories, and she still survived!