The Dangerous Power of Crowds (2011) • Hacker News Board

Re: The Dangerous Power of Crowds (2011)

#21

Post by aaron695 » Sat, Nov 06, 2021, 11:32 PM UTC

This was the best paper I've read on this topic because it had many videos to go with it, but I suspect Youtube has since atrophied, but it was very well documented (Love Parade disaster, 21 deaths, Germany)

Crowd Disasters as Systemic Failures: Analysis of the Love Parade Disaster? - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1206.5856.pdf

It talks about crowd quakes, and how models are more fluid dynamics. Obviously the media will try to pin things to individuals and singular events because that gets clicks so it is a topic that's hard to move forward.

Re: The Dangerous Power of Crowds (2011)

#22

Post by 2xpress » Sat, Nov 06, 2021, 11:52 PM UTC

"... Employees asked the police for help. According to a court filing, the police responded that dealing with this crowd was “not in their job description,” and they left. ..."

At least after the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster there was an inquiry into that police.

Article should have been titled The Dangers of Government Inaction and Lack of Accountability

Re: The Dangerous Power of Crowds (2011)

#23

Post by musicale » Mon, Nov 08, 2021, 4:53 AM UTC

RistrettoMike wrote: post #5

For whatever reason I've found this "Human Crush" phenomena simultaneously interesting & terrifying ever since I first heard about it some years ago in regards to the Hillsborough disaster. People in a dense enough group cease to function as individual units... but instead as a large fluid mass incapable of immediate course correction. It's stuck with me, and made me more wary and alert when in crowded scenarios to t…

Crowd management and continuous crowd monitoring is essential at any potentially high-density event.

Some cities have banned festival seating since it leads to potentially deadly crowd densities near the stage. This matches my own experience right before a popular act comes on and the crowd density immediately doubles or triples as people cram into all available space at the front.

A domino effect or pileup of just a few people can create 1000 pounds of force, making it impossible for someone to breathe. Now imagine shockwaves/quakes/pileups in a crowd of thousands of people.

Rigid metal or concrete barriers/fences that crush people rather than giving way, along with security staff who refuse to allow distressed attendees to leave, make things even more dangerous.