Exit sign

[JohnW2]

I take arrow pointing down to mean here is the door out of the room.

As I said, so would I - and I think most people seeing sideways or diagonal ones might (if they thought about them at all) think "What??" !!

Kind Regards, John

 

[sparkwright]

Mmmm Seem we haven't sorted it on our roads either...
View attachment 219750

Have you ever noticed, on the signs for the airports with the little areoplane, the plane always points in the same direction as the corresponding arrow?

Little bit of useless info there.

 

[SUNRAY]

Have you ever noticed, on the signs for the airports with the little areoplane, the plane always points in the same direction as the corresponding arrow?

Little bit of useless info there.

Is that not also the case with exit signs?
I thought it's a requirement.

 

[securespark]

Exit signs don't have planes on them...

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I wouldn't necessarily say that (if one even bothered to think about the arrows) following an arrow which was pointing at a ceiling would necessarilybe all that "simple"/obvious to everyone.

Given RF's question, everything I've said relates to signs above doors. As I have said, if someone needs to escape and sees a door with an illuminated sign, they will go through it, regardless of any arrows.

Good summary!

I thought that long ago, they had replaced all EXIT signs with words, with even more confusing symbols?

 

[sparkwright]

With all the red tape and opportunities to sue for everything nowadays, I suppose common sense has to take a back seat, and the arrow must go by the 'book' - even if the book is wrong.

Some emergency exits, such as in a basement, may involve the public actually having to go up some stairs to their ultimate safe place outside.

Should the arrow indicate just the door, the general direction to be walked, or the ultimate safe place destination?

It may be my imagination, but many years ago I don't ever remember seeing arrows pointing up on signs over doors, but I could be entirely wrong. Anyone?

 

[conny]

Have you ever noticed, on the signs for the airports with the little areoplane, the plane always points in the same direction as the corresponding arrow?

Little bit of useless info there.

This doesn't correspond.

The plane is pointing up, (ahead), and the direction arrows are pointing down.

 

[bernardgreen]

 

[sparkwright]

This doesn't correspond. View attachment 219782 The plane is pointing up, (ahead), and the direction arrows are pointing down.

I'm talking about the normal arrows on the same sign, which point to which direction the destinations are.

There will always be exceptions in any case - nothing ever seems to be completely consistent.

 

[JohnW2]

With all the red tape and opportunities to sue for everything nowadays, I suppose common sense has to take a back seat, and the arrow must go by the 'book' - even if the book is wrong.

In a bureaucratic sense, that's probably correct, but it would be much nicer (and, I would say, sensible) if common sense could prevail. I suppose more to the point is that if the book were not 'wrong', then it and common sense ought to say the same thing!

Some emergency exits, such as in a basement, may involve the public actually having to go up some stairs to their ultimate safe place outside. ... Should the arrow indicate just the door, the general direction to be walked, or the ultimate safe place destination?

Common sense, again - which surely says that all three of those 'options' are essentially the same. If a sign identifies a door as a route of escape, those needing to escape will go through it, and if they then encounter stairs, they will presumably go up them (to the 'ultimate safe place destination').

Of course, if, having gone through the door, one is faced with a choice of alternatives, only one of which involves going up the stair's to safety, then they should/must be further signs/arrows (beyond the door) indicating the route to safety.

It may be my imagination, but many years ago I don't ever remember seeing arrows pointing up on signs over doors, but I could be entirely wrong. Anyone?

Not your imagination. I don't think the arrows appeared until about a couple of decades ago.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

This doesn't correspond.and the direction arrows are pointing down.

They are not direction arrows; they indicate the lane you should be in for the above destination.

 

[333rocky333]

Is it still compulsory to have an arrow, you do see signs like this, with the Man and the door.
They call it a running man but i believe your not meant to run

 

[333rocky333]

Have you ever noticed, on the signs for the airports with the little areoplane, the plane always points in the same direction as the corresponding arrow?

Little bit of useless info there.

If it was going down I think it may put people of boarding

 

[333rocky333]

Good summary!

I thought that long ago, they had replaced all EXIT signs with words, with even more confusing symbols?

Year 2000 i believe was the deadline to phase out EXIT only signs, apparently they can still use the words in addition to the symbols, which are a universal lanquage.
If you get on a Spanish plane, they use SALIDA which i guess means Exit.
Apparently extra words now, BS use capital first letter Exit, whereas Euro standard is all Upper case EXIT

 

[JohnW2]

Is it still compulsory to have an arrow ...

It seems that it is - but that doesn't necessarily make the requirement sensible, useful or (worst of all) necessarily 'non-confusing'.

As I've said, I don't believe that many people would, in an emergency, even 'notice', let alone 'take notice of' the arrow on a sign above an emergency exit door. However, for the few exceptions to that, if they saw a sign above a door pointing (directly or 'diagonally') to the left or right, it is not impossible that they would interpret that as meaning that they should travel to the right or left of the door (rather than through it) - which could obviously be potentially hazardous.

In my opinion, when arrows are necessary/useful (as at T-junctions), they are clearly desirable. In all other situations, at best they don't really help and, at worst, they might conceivably 'do harm'.

Kind Regards, John