Understanding Crowd Panic at Turning and Intersection Through Model Organisms

Nirajan Shiwakoti (), Majid Sarvi (), Charitha Dias () and Martin Burd ()
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Nirajan Shiwakoti: Monash University, Institute of Transport Studies, Department of Civil Engineering
Majid Sarvi: Monash University, Institute of Transport Studies, Department of Civil Engineering
Charitha Dias: Monash University, Institute of Transport Studies, Department of Civil Engineering
Martin Burd: Monash University, School of Biological Sciences

A chapter in Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics 2012, 2014, pp 1175-1183 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Previous studies on crowd disasters have highlighted the importance of considering turning and intersecting movement patterns in an escape area. Given the scarcity of data on human panic, there may be merit to use insights from non-human organisms to understand crowd panic as collective behaviour patterns also occur in non-human biological systems. We use model organisms approach by examining empirical data collected from panicking Argentine ants to study crowd panic at turning and intersection. The empirical data showed that the outflow of ants do not decrease proportionately with the increase in turning angles. Likewise, at intersection it was observed that one stream of ants is blocked by another stream of ants for considerable duration resulting in disproportionate flow at the intersection. Although the results are preliminary for statistical significance, these can have implications in testing the models of pedestrian crowds and in development of design solutions that enhances crowd safety.

Keywords: Pedestrians; Ants; Evacuation; Collective dynamics; Egress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-02447-9_96

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-02447-9_96

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