I wonder why?

[AliasAggers]

Whenever one reads advice on what to do if you are in a public building, it is usually stressed that in the event of a fire
you should proceed to an exit but never run.

Why is it, then, that the notices indicating the direction of an escape route have an illustration depicting a man running?

[TheOstrich]

The green pictorial "running man" symbol for an emergency exit was first developed and adopted in Japan in the 1980's, according to Wiki, and has become mandatory elsewhere since.

The Japanese must be more prone to panic, Aggers. As you know, it is not "the done thing" to run in this country; we are frightfully British, after all, don't you know.......

[cromwell]

I think I'd at least manage a trot!

[JanB]

And the Portuguese would push you out of the way to be ahead

[JoM]

I suppose that walking is more orderly if that makes sense. If people run then you'd have faster runners trying to run around the slower ones and there's more chance of a pile up or people falling?