Staying safe in crowds: recognise density, move away early

When a crowd stands very densely, bodies touch from all sides. Every push is then passed on from person to person, a bit like a row of falling dominoes. The forces of many people can add up, especially where the crowd is pressed against a barrier, a wall or into a bottleneck. A single person can no longer escape this pressure.

The greatest danger is usually the pressure on the chest, which makes breathing difficult. That explains why crowd disasters often happen where space narrows: at entrances and exits, stairs, barriers or where two streams of people meet. People further back often do not notice at all that people at the front are in trouble, and keep pushing.

The word “stampede” or “mass panic” in news reports is therefore often misleading. Crowd science literature describes density, flow and bottlenecks as the central causes – not primarily mindless behaviour. Many people actually behave very helpfully in such situations.

Watch for these signs: you have body contact on all sides and can no longer move your arms freely. The crowd moves back and forth in waves. You are being carried along without taking a step yourself. People are screaming or calling for help. Each of these is a signal to head for the edge straight away.

Some places and moments are particularly risky: bottlenecks, stairs, bridges and barriers, closed or overcrowded exits, the area directly in front of the stage, and moments when everyone arrives or leaves at the same time. Heat and long waits also make a crowd more restless.

Trust your gut feeling. If it gets too tight for you, leaving early is almost always the better choice. You might miss part of the concert – but you keep your room for action. In the middle of a crush there are hardly any good options left.

Before: when you arrive, note the emergency exits, stewards and first-aid posts. Agree an easily recognisable meeting point with your companions in case you are separated – mobile networks are often overloaded at large events. Children can carry a note with a parent’s phone number. A charged phone helps, but it does not replace an agreement.

Your position: the edge is better than the middle or right in front of the stage. Keep away from bottlenecks, stairs and barriers. That way you always have a way out.

In the middle of it: move diagonally across the flow towards the edge, not straight against it – fighting the flow costs strength and almost never works. Use the short pauses between two surges to take steps. Hold your arms bent in front of your chest to keep some room to breathe. Stay as calm as you can and save your strength; do not bend down to pick something up.

Anyone who falls in a dense crowd should try to get up again immediately. If that fails, curl up on your side and protect your head and chest with your arms. Only help other people who have fallen if you are standing stably yourself – otherwise you will fall too. Pushchairs do not belong in dense crowds, and small children are better kept out altogether.

Report dangerous situations immediately to stewards or police, and in an emergency call the local emergency number (112 in the EU). Follow announcements and staff instructions. If a site has to be evacuated, take the nearest marked exit, not automatically the entrance you came in through – that is where most people will head.

The specialist literature, such as “Introduction to Crowd Science” by G. Keith Still, stresses that planning and managing crowds is the task of organisers and authorities – with enough exits, guidance systems and staff. Your own precautions complement this but do not replace it.

None of these measures guarantees safety. But they shift the odds clearly in your favour, because they work where you can still act: early, at the edge and with a plan. You can practise this every time you visit a station or a street festival by briefly looking at the exits and noticing how crowded it is.