ABSTRACT
Tunnels may have escape doors, but will (panicked) drivers use them when the road is blocked and there is a fire? The behavior of over 400 drivers in such a situation was recorded. In Study 1, individual drivers entered the tunnel knowing they would stop before an (imaginary) fire. Without instruction about the doors, ¼ escaped over the road; so, most people used the doors. In Study 2, drivers entered the tunnel in groups of 50 for an exploration ride, expecting “things to happen” on subsequent rides only. On the first ride, a slow truck on the left lane stopped across the road and got engulfed in smoke. The recordings identified the most important problem in tunnel evacuation: driver passivity (people remaining in their cars). Once ordered to escape, all people went through the doors. The value of behavioral study is discussed in terms of real and imaginary problems.
