Does a large group of pedestrians follow the evacuation signs?An experimental study

Guidance signs are generally considered to be key in improving the efficiency of emergency building evacuations.During a group evacuation,how obedient is the group to the evacuation signs?Would different evacuation signs affect the judgment of evacuated groups?Evacuation experiments were conducted to explore the influence of evacuation signs on the path selection of evacuation groups.Fourteen classes with 514 participants participated in these experiments,and each class participated in one experiment.Six classes conducted the experiments without guidance signs,and the rest conducted the experiments with guidance signs.The influences of the sign’s color(red and green),pattern(arrow and running man),and status(whether it flashes)on the route selection were studied.The results show that(1)the evacuation signs significantly affect the route choices of the evacuated groups.(2)The herding effect during the evacuation process does not influence the guiding effect of evacuation signs.(3)Evacuation signs of different colors and patterns have different guiding effects,and the Green running man sign has the best effect.(4)The constant bright,or flashing evacuation sign corresponding to the flashing Red running man has a significant impact on the route selection of the evacuated group.The results may provide a reference for improving the emergency evacuation guidance model of office buildings or other buildings with a large flow of people and optimize ideas for the design and layout of emergency evacuation signs.

Test the effectiveness of building safety guidance signs in a T-junction corridor based on eye movement data

Evacuation signs are a key factor in the effectiveness of occupants'urgent escape from buildings.Different sign features may have disparate impacts on individual and crowd behavior.This study aims to quantitatively inves-tigate the effectiveness of building evacuation signs with different features during pedestrian evacuation using eye-tracking devices.Ten experiments were conducted in a building in T-junction scenarios,and four sets of features related to evacuation signs(color,position,graphics,and flashing)were considered.SMI BeGaze was used to analyze the eye movements of the occupants.The fixation duration of the evacuees and the ratio of signs detected and followed were quantitatively derived and compared for each experiment.The results show that it is easier for evacuees to detect signs at a low sightline,and signs posted at that level of sight can provide better guidance.When signs are posted high up,red signs are easier to detect than green signs.Most evacuees prefer to follow the evacuation signs once they detect them;however,there is no significant difference in the effect of what is posted on the evacuation signs,such as a running man or an arrow.Conversely,flashing of signs is highly helpful in influencing evacuees'behavior,but flashing is not helpful in detecting signs.More importantly,red signs with a running man graphic located in a low position have the best guiding effects on evacuees.The fixa-tion behaviors of evacuees vary according to sign features,particularly in regard to flashing and color.Evacuees stare longer at twinkling signs.Differences in the colors and positions of signs result in significantly different perceptual behaviors among evacuees.Our findings are useful for building designers and provide guidance for developing effective evacuation strategies.