Exploring Trampling and Crushing in a Crowd
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 8
Abstract
Using published field data on accidents in crowds involving either the trampling or crushing of pedestrians, a theory has been developed to model similar dangerous situations. Whether a particular situation is fatal is statistical, but general rules may be established. In cases involving trampling, which occurs when pedestrians are moving, it was found that the density of pedestrians is an important isotropic quantity that appears to determine the probability of a fatal accident. Previous studies have also identified the density of a crowd as determining the probability of crushing within a stationary crowd, although different densities are involved in the initiation of these two types of accidents. In a moving crowd, trampling will occur before crushing, but trampling does not occur in a static crowd. The cross-sectional size of pedestrians within the crowd is important in determining whether a particular density is dangerous in both types of accidents. Consequently, comparisons of accidents involving different groups of pedestrians, possibly in different countries, need to be standardized for the characteristics of the group.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the Danish Foreign Ministry for its assistance in obtaining the coroner’s reports on the Roskilde Festival 2000 accident. The writers would also like to thank Mr. Paul Werthimer, principal of Crowd Management Strategies, U.S.A, for providing a copy of Rock Concert Safety, and Ms. Susanne Riehn Kristensen, correspondent for the official Web site of the Roskilde Festival, Denmark, for her help with locating the site map for the Roskilde Festival 2000.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 8 • August 2005
Pages: 575 - 582
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 23, 2002
Accepted: May 4, 2004
Published online: Aug 1, 2005
Published in print: Aug 2005
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