Experimental Research of Relationship between Pedestrian Stopping Distance and Walking Speed to Avoid Pedestrian Crowd Stampede Accident

Abstract

Stampede accidents usually take place in crowded areas in transfer stations, sports stadiums, shopping malls, religious places and other similar areas. One of the causes of stampedes is that people do not have enough distance to stop themselves when there are emergencies. Like vehicles, pedestrians also need stopping distance when they want to stop from a certain speed, especially in a sudden situation without any previous notice. People who could not stop in time crush into or step upon other people, and may trigger a stampede accident. Analysis of worldwide stampede accidents reveals the reasons for stampede accidents. In the following sections, this paper describes the experimental design, including variable definitions, measurement set-up and experiment processing. The process of data collection and the building of relationship models are presented, as well as some preliminary results. In the end, the application of this relationship of stopping distance and walking speed will be introduced.