Beyond the "faster is slower" effect

Abstract

The "faster is slower" effect raises when crowded people push each other to escape through an exit during an emergency situation. As individuals push harder, a statistical slowing down in the evacuation time can be achieved. The slowing down is caused by the presence of small groups of pedestrians (say, a small human cluster) that temporary blocks the way out when trying to leave the room. The pressure on the pedestrians belonging to this blocking cluster raises for increasing anxiety levels and/or larger number of individuals trying to leave the room through the same door. Our investigation shows, however, that very high pressures alters the dynamics in the blocking cluster, and thus, changes the statistics of the time delays along the escaping process. It can be acknowledged a reduction in the long lasting delays, while the overall evacuation performance improves. We present results on this novel phenomenon taking place beyond the "faster is slower" regime.

12 pages, 10 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Body and mind: Decoding the dynamics of pedestrians and the effect of smartphone distraction by coupling mechanical and decisional processes
• Microscopic dynamics of escaping groups through an exit and a corridor
• Membranes for spontaneous separation of pedestrian counter flows
• Pedestrian evacuations with imitation of cooperative behavior
• Constraint relaxation leads to jamming
• A re-examination of the role of friction in the original Social Force Model