That is an idea that is only now being bandied about; one hotel here has placed additional signs at approximately knee-level.
While one ought to always favor "saving lives," I'm not sure that adding signs and lights is the answer. In some ways, it seems like treating cancer with a back rub; and, when that doesn't work well enough, to rub harder!
In the coarsest sense, additional circuits and hardware are only going to provide additional sources of ignition and maintenance.
I think that, for there to be improvement in this area, we need to address two basic issues : human behavior and basic design.
Last October 31, we had a hotel fire that killed 13 of the 60 people in the building at the time. In addition, 25 more were taken to the hospital, at least for treatment. What makes this even more shocking is that the fire occurred at a time when everyone was awake, management was present, the alarms worked, and the fire house was across the street.
One factor that likely contributed was the responses of the residents. One survivor described how he heard the ruckus, heard the alarms, saw smoke .... and his response was to stuff a towel in his door, and go back to his computer game! Friends, all the alarms and signs won't help if you fail to respond!
Another factor is suggested by ... well, let me use a shopping center as an example.
The "Old City" of Jerusalem has a market area, that is a warren of little stalls, small shops, winding alleys, etc. It is simply not possible, at any point, to identify your position ... and quite easy to get confused. Indeed, quite often folks who think they are carefully retracing their steps find themselves exiting from the opposite side of the city.
Compare this to, say, your modern shopping mall. For the most part, even first-time visitors have little trouble returning to their cars ... and, even if they go down the wrong hall, there's an exit there. No blind alleys. No sudden changes in floor levels.
My point in giving these examples is: building layout can either match the 'natural flow,' helping you to exit ... or it can send you right off the loading dock. It takes an awful lot of signs to counter a poor layout!
