Reexamination of a Design for Effective Evacuation Guidance Sign in Japan and the United States

Abstract

In case of disaster, an inappropriate designed sign for evacuation guidance can lead to make human damage greater. According to the preceding study, some evacuation sign in use for the indication of an evacuation route or a type of an evacuation site are not only hard to be understood exactly, but also apt to be understood quite the opposite. Furthermore, the preceding study also mentioned that an appropriate evacuation guidance sign should have both an elaborated symbol for a hazard and a refined symbol for an awakening to a smooth evacuation. However, as the preceding study was based on a questionnaire survey targeting merely university students, further research had been needed in order to confirm how much general scope these arguments have.

In this paper, we verified again the above arguments which has been pointed out by the preceding study, based on two sets of new data collected through internet questionnaire surveys targeting common people in Japan and the United States. The results of the verification generally support the most part of the above arguments. Accordingly, we may conclude as a minimum suggestion that the design of the “simple person” should be permitted, without elements such as the design of “circle” or “building” which could be obstructive to smooth evacuation.