Exit Choice Behavior Of Pedestrians Involving Individuals With Disabilities During Building Evacuations

Pedestrian evacuation studies are critical in obtaining information about evacuation scenarios and in preparing to face the challenges of actual evacuations. Many studies in the literature have examined evacuation policies, exit choice modeling, and evacuation curve analysis. Although some studies have addressed the evacuation behavior of individuals with disabilities (IWDs), this important aspect of evacuation seems to be missing from modeling of the exit choice in most of the studies. This is surprising, as IWDs comprise a significant percentage of the population in the United States. Additionally, in modeling of the exit choice for evacuation, many studies have been found to be based on the stated preference survey method, where evacuees are asked to choose an exit based on descriptions without an actual experiment taking place. This study focuses on the discrete choice model of the exit choice in the room for both individuals with disabilities and individuals without disabilities (IWODs). The results in demonstrate that the presence of IWDs in the group plays a crucial role in the exit choice for evacuees (both individuals with and without disabilities). The results from this study clearly demonstrate that there are significant differences in exit choice between IWDs and IWODs. Current evacuation policies have been found to be more focused on visual signs, while this study demonstrates that these visual signs are of little importance to individuals with visual disabilities.