Experimental study on pedestrian behavior in a mixed crowd of individuals and groups

Abstract The influences of groups on pedestrian behavior in a mixed crowd that comprises individuals and groups were investigated experimentally. The crowd comprised 20 pedestrians: some were composed into groups of three or four pedestrians (3-pedestrian and 4-pedestrian groups), and the others walked as individuals The walking speed and the walking behavior of pedestrians in the crowds were the main focus. Results showed that the walking speed of pedestrians – the​ individuals and group members in a mixed crowd – basically decreased compared with their walking speed in none-group crowd, and the decreasing of pedestrians’ walking speed became more obvious with the size of groups inside the mixed crowd. Basically, the decrease in the degree of walking speed was larger for female pedestrians than for the male pedestrians. However, in the mixed crowd conditions with the 3-pedestrian group, the walking speed of individuals with an initial location near the group might possibly be higher than that in the none-group crowd condition, which might be caused by the accelerating process for overtaking the group in front of them. This speed accelerating behavior was more remarkable among the male pedestrians in this study. In the mixed crowd conditions with the 4-pedestrian group, the overtaking of the group became more difficult for the individuals. The walking speed of a group in a crowd was lower than that in the free-walking environment because the group members had to pay more attention to maintain group relationships and not separate from each other in the crowd.