How to Survive when the Crowd Goes Wild
February of 2003 was a bad month for club-goers: a stampede in Chicago killed 21, and only four days later, a fire in Rhode Island killed 100. When disaster strikes, how can you live to boogie another day?

The E2 stampede in Chicago was caused by a security guard using pepper spray to break up an altercation. The Station fire in Rhode Island started in metal band Great White's on-stage pyrotechnics. But the deaths were caused by panicky music fans clogging the doorways that could have their passage to safety.

A recent article in WIRED magazine highlights some new research about how crowd behavior turns danger into disaster.

Scientists and architects joined forces to model crowd behavior, hoping to provide insight for improving building designs. Their insights also can help people survive disaster by avoiding deadly pitfalls.

For example, in a panic, people tend to herd together. They also all want to be first through a doorway. They tend to want to exit using the door through which they entered.

Results: People overlook open exits. People jam familiar passages, preventing anyone from getting out. People get crushed. In short, bad things happen.

The article lists steps for changing the fate of panicked mobs. Most involve design changes, such as using the best spacing between exits (to avoid interference), adding columns near doorways (to break up solid masses into moving flows of people), and better exit indicators.

How can individual music fans keep alive when panic hits the dance floor? The most important rules: look around before disaster strikes. Scope out alternative escape routes -- as many as possible -- before they're needed.

Listen to NPR's Morning Edition (Feb. 17, 2004) article, "Has Nightclub Safety Improved?"

Read the January 2004 WIRED magazine article (with essential illustrations!)

Read about the "Great White Fire" at Roadie.net

Read about the stampede at Chicago's E2 from the Christian Science Monitor