From ?faster is slower? to ?faster is faster?

G. FRANK; I STICCO; F.E. CORNES; C. O. DORSO

Baltimore

Congreso; 2017 Joint Statistical Meetings (ASA) Baltimore; 2017

American Statistical Association

AbstractThe ?faster is slower? effect raises when crowded people push each other to escape through an exitduring a panic situation. As individuals push harder, a statistical slowing down in the evacuationtime can be achieved. The slowing down is caused by the presence of small groups of pedestrians(say, a small human cluster) that temporary block the way out when trying to leave the room. Thepressure on the pedestrians belonging to this blocking cluster raises for increasing anxiety levelsand/or larger number of individuals trying to leave the room through the same door. Our inves-tigation shows, however, that very high pressures alters the dynamics in the blocking cluster, andthus, changes the statistics of the time delays along the escaping process. It can be acknowledged areduction in the long lasting delays, while the overall evacuation performance improves. We presentresults on this novel phenomenon taking place beyond the ?faster is slower? regime.