Always good to be informed. However, keep in mind that the priorities and perspective of emergency managers/law enforcement/fire service/etc. could be quite different from the priorities and perspectives of an individual person.

Public health faces a similar dilema. Just look at the push-back from the public about various measures implemented since last April with H1N1, like school closures, travel restrictions, and now, the pandemic flu vaccine. What may seem obvious to "the experts" may not make so much sense to you, which is not to say that either side is "wrong" in the absolute sense.

Adds just another layer of, "...but maybe it won't be appropriate in this case..." to any sort of personal bug out checklist that someone may come up with. It might make sense to you but could be the wrong thing from someone else's perspective.

E.g. during the TV coverage of a wildfire here a couple years back, the news anchor was asking a fire service representative why a voluntary or mandatory evacuation hadn't been ordered for a neighborhood that seemed quite close to a new patch of fire. Part of his answer was that they didn't want to order the evacuation just yet because crews hadn't yet reached the fire line and if they jam up the roads with an evac order, it will take even longer for the fire crews to get to the fire. So, what might have seemed safe and prudent to the individual (bugging out as soon as they saw how close the flames were), in the big picture, could actually be counter-productive for the greater number of people.

Sort of like freeways clogging with pre-hurricane landfall traffic. It's good to be getting out of the danger area, but bad for everyone that you all end up stuck on the road.