Quantification of the movement characteristics for the elderly assisted by the young through exit

Abstract The elderly, as a vulnerable group with lower reaction speed and movement ability, usually need assistance from others in transportation and evacuation. Experiments of elderly pedestrians passing through exits under the assistance of the young are carried out. When walking in the room (x ∈ [0,4m]), the elderly and young in one assistant group have synergetic movement angles and speeds. When approaching the exit (x ∈ [4,5m]), the assistant group compresses its spatial distance (SD: from 0.465 m to 0.408 m). To give priority to the old through the exit, the young adjust their movement angles more dramatically and make sacrifices in speeds. It shows that the young have larger movement angles (P