BACKGROUND
Navigating the public transit system appears simple for frequent riders during routine times, but in an emergency the transportation system can bewilder all riders. In emergencies – no-notice or short-notice events – every aspect of communication becomes more difficult, particularly for people who can’t understand spoken or written English. Studies of human brain response show that no one in an emergency has full capacity to receive information, apply reasoning, and make and act on sound decisions. Critical information must be far more concise and compelling than in normal circumstances. For especially vulnerable audiences, information must conveyed so that it leaps communication barriers, including lack of language proficiency; physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities; age (very old or very young); and specific cultural orientations or other limiting factors.
Research under way for Transit Cooperative Research Program Project A-33, Communications with Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation and Emergency Management Toolkit, reveals that communicating with people who have functional communication needs is regarded increasingly in transportation as every agency’s concern, but, as yet, no entity’s responsibility. The work of TCRP A-33 suggests that a particular set of tools – pictograms – could make a substantial contribution to effective communication with all populations in emergencies, and especially with people who have functional communication needs. The proposed research would explore issues raised by the work in TCRP A-33 about providing direction to people who are unable to read or speak English, as well as to usually competent English-speakers whose emergency-related responses (e.g., fear, haste, distraction) are barriers to understanding and action.
Pictograms are picture-based communication tools that use illustrations with few or no words to communication critical information. Pictograms can be advantageous when used because they are more noticeable than written communication; provide the public with concise, instantaneous information; improve comprehension of critical messages for people with functional needs; and reduce the need for message translation.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this research include:
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Locate and review existing information and ongoing research on behavior modification and wayfinding, particularly in the transportation realm, and including best or promising practices.
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Develop and test with diverse audiences a set of pictograms around pre-selected scenarios, such as a weather disaster or terrorist attack.
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Apply findings by conducting a pilot program around pictograms in emergency situations.
Research Proposed
Focus in three research areas on the potential practical value of directive pictograms to discover how they could help communicate important transportation messages to diverse audiences:
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Investigate pictogram programs already in use for public wayfinding or behavior instruction to identify best or promising practices in universal design and accessibility.
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Establish parameters of the most likely audiences for pictograms and the messages transportation professionals expect will be necessary to communicate.
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Based on pilot tests, obtain one set of pictograms useful for effective emergency communications to meet the functional needs of people especially communication challenged in emergencies, especially in the context of emergency transportation.
Tasks
Phase I
Task 13. Conduct a scan of case studies, emerging practices, reported failures with regard to using picture-based communication for wayfinding, and behavior modification in transportation, health, and other areas with diverse publics. Identify best or promising practices; rejected pictographs (including why they were rejected); size of pictographs used; and how users of pictographs handle contradictory information between standard situations (e.g., never go through connecting doors on Metro train cars) and emergency situations (e.g., evacuate train by going through connecting doors on Metro train cars even though existing signage says not to).
Task 14. Identify fundamental emergency messages that need to be conveyed in virtually every emergency transportation circumstance. From interviews with emergency and transportation managers, set a baseline of messages that are widely used, if not universal for widespread emergencies (e.g., hurricanes), as well as other messages used in routine transit operations and during occasional emergencies (e.g., sudden service interruption). Prepare a research problem statement for developing pictograph messages identified in Task 2 that are not developed in TCRP Project A-33A.
Task 15. Conduct interviews with experts who provide services to vulnerable populations to identify the groups who would be most likely to need and to respond to pictograms.
Task 16. From discussions with emergency and transportation managers, select a scenario useful for developing and testing messages (e.g., a weather evacuation).
Task 17. Prepare an interim report summarizing the results of Tasks 1 through 4 for review by the TCRP project panel. The interim report should provide an updated work plan for the remaining tasks.
Phase II
Task 18. Develop and test a set of pictograms for the selected scenario and test for value in wayfinding, behavior management, and information management. Conduct field tests with people representing populations that have functional communication needs.
Task 19. Create a pilot program. Apply the findings from all tasks to develop a pilot program that emergency and transportation managers can use to sample the effectiveness of pictograms to convey transportation information in routine and emergency situations. Recruit selected transit entities to use the pilot and report outcomes.
Task 20. Prepare a draft report to TCRP on the outcomes of the research and pilot program. The report will include (a) a set of pictorial markers in digital format that can be used by transportation agencies and is suitable for consideration by standards development organizations and (b) a research problem statement for developing pictograph messages identified in but not developed under TCRP Project A-33A.
Task 21. Prepare a final report.
