Mouse Models to Investigate the Influence of an Obstacle on Variables that Create Pedestrian Bottlenecks

When many people attempt to evacuate a place at the same time, a bottleneck occurs at the exit. Although there are many experimental variables, such as obstacle size and distance from the exit, there is a lack of experimental studies on the influence of such variables on escape tendency. Thus, this study was purposed to fill in this gap of knowledge by performing experiments that varied the exit angle and location of an obstacle. Because experiments with people who assume an emergency situation may result in actual human casualties, the active avoidance method (i.e., electric shock) was applied to mouse models in this study. Specifically, electric foot shock was used to induce panic in mice located in a designated waiting section. Then, in a designated measurement section, the escape velocity, escape time, and escape trajectory length were analyzed to compare the escape tendencies. It was found that the presence of an obstacle in front of the exit increased the escape velocity, and decreased the escape time. The experimental results also revealed that there was an optimal location for the obstacle relative to the exit.