The tunnel as seen on evacuation
other
Motorists drive through tunnels at high speeds. In consequence, they see the tunnel in a flash and have no idea how the tunnel looks like when they have to walk in the tunnel, for example, when evacuation is required. The authorities responsible for evacuation (and escape signs) are experts who fail to see the tunnel the way the general public does because they now too much. TNO studied how the nonexpert (the general public) reacts to signs when instructed to evacuate. The results showed that escape ways are ignored, and should be improved, for example, by giving the escape doors the loos of safe exits rather than as access doors to technical rooms. One of the keys to improvement is better signal-to-noise ratio, the signal being the evacuation signs'the noise all other visual stimuli including cars with flashing alarm lights. In a follow-up, TNO studied how motorists react to an unannounced disaster. Seven different groups of 50 cars each participated. They got stuck behind a 'burning' heavy-goods vehicle that blocked the roadway. The study showed that motorists decided that the problem was a normal traffic jam, and so ignored the threat, waiting for the congestion to dissolve. This shows the need for an adequate 'wake-up message' in order to start an evacuation.
Automobilisten kennen de tunnel in het voorbijrijden en hebben weinig idee van de vluchtvoorzieningen
TNO Identifier
15899
Source title
International symposium on design, construction and operation of long tunnels Taipei, Taiwan
Pages
663 - 668
Files
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