escape route

escape route (plural escape routes)

1. A path used by someone to escape from a dangerous place.

   In case of emergency, all personnel must follow the escape routes.

   • 2022 February 27, Peter Beaumont, “‘Everyone was fighting to get on a train’: the desperation of Ukrainians trying to reach safety”, in The Guardian‎:

     The UN estimates that 368,000 people have already fled from Ukraine into neighbouring countries in recent days, and for many the train remains the most reliable escape route, not least to Przemyśl, the first station in Poland across the border.

2. (figuratively) A way out of a difficult or unpleasant situation.
   • 2017 July 16, Tim Jonze, “Dizzee Rascal: ‘I’m the one person who can say, Grime? Nah, I seen it, sorry!’”, in The Guardian‎:

     Success was a laugh for Dizzee, but it was also his escape route from a tense upbringing: he was expelled from four schools and often ran into trouble; shortly after winning the Mercury prize in 2003, he was stabbed by a rival crew member in Ayia Napa. Now, suddenly, he could travel freely, support his family, make a difference in people’s lives with his music.

   • 2018 March 18, Sharmaine Lovegrove, “Sharmaine Lovegrove: ‘If you don’t have a diverse workforce or product, sooner or later you won’t exist’”, in The Observer‎:

     Books and stories have always been my escape route from busy London life. As a child I was often found reading – in a corner at home in Battersea, or in the library, on a bus, or the back of a car, drifting into the lives of others for hours on end, with only the act of turning the page occasionally jolting me back into reality.

• “escape route”, in Collins English Dictionary.