Understanding Crowd Panic at Turning and Intersection Through Model Organisms

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.

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