To minimize property loss and death count in terror attacks and other emergent scenarios, attention given to timely and effective evacuation cannot be enough. Due to limited evacuation resource, i.e., number of available exits, there exists interdependence among pedestrians such as cooperation, competition and herd effect. Thus human factors - more specifically, pedestrians' behavior in emergency evacuation - play a significant role in evacuation research. Effective evacuation can only be reached when route planning are considered in conjunction with psychological dynamics, which is often ignored. As another drawback, previous research assumes the environment including available exits as stationary. However, we note that during emergency, some exits which are not often utilized in normal times are opened, which potentially helps if pedestrians are aware of them. In this paper, we analyze the effect of pedestrians' behavior, i.e., herd effect and knowledge of changing environment with Cellular Automata (CA) simulation. Results of the simulation show the harmful effect of herd effect as well as highlight the importance of timely informing pedestrians of environmental change. Accordingly, we propose policy and procedural recommendations for emergency management of large, crowded structures. Our future work includes considering more human factors and applying our model to log data provided by videos in public venues, which can further show effectiveness of our model in real scenarios.
@cite_12 the likely behaviours of train passengers in an emergency evacuation are explored in the form of questionnaires. The results showed that respondents are more likely to be reactive (e.g., wait for instruction from station staff) rather than proactive (e.g., move to exit); more likely to be cooperative (e.g., helping other people) than competitive (e.g., push other passengers); more likely to show herding or symmetry behaviour (e.g., following other passengers) than symmetric breaking behaviour (e.g., choose least crowded exit); and less likely to use the lifts, escalators and tunnels to escape in an emergency situation. In terms of demographic differences in behaviours, it's demonstrated that there are significant differences in the evacuation behaviours between males and females. Males are less likely to use emergency call buttons, call the emergency phone number or wait at the assembly area. Also, they are more likely to display competitive behaviour, choose the least crowded exit, and use the lifts, escalators and tunnels to escape in the event of an emergency evacuation. In contrast, differences in behaviours are not as obvious among different age groups.
@cite_12
2486010654
Abstract This paper explores the likely behaviours of train passengers in an emergency evacuation and examines four crucial theoretical issues on the passengers evacuation, including reactive vs. proactive behaviours, cooperative vs. competitive behaviours, symmetry breaking, and route exit choice. A survey of 1134 train passengers shows that respondents are not homogeneous in their likely behaviours. Overall, they are more likely to be reactive (e.g., wait for instruction from station staff) than proactive (e.g., move to exit) in an emergency situation. We also find that people are more likely to be co-operative (e.g., helping other people) than competitive (e.g., push other passengers). Although passengers are likely to show herding or symmetry breaking behaviour (e.g., following other passengers) than symmetric behaviour (e.g., choose least crowded exit), the degree of symmetry breaking behaviour is not as high as assumed in previous mathematical models. They are also unlikely to use escalators, lifts and train tunnels in their exit route choice during an emergency escape. In terms of demographic differences in behaviours, results from the ordered logit models demonstrate that there are significant differences in the evacuation behaviours between males and females but not among the different age groups. Besides providing valuable information for developing mathematical models intended to simulate passengers evacuation in a train station, our findings can assist managers of emergency response in developing appropriate strategies and training, and in designing solutions and education campaigns for effective evacuation.