The research showed that pedestrians were up to 2.5 times more likely cross a busy road if someone else stepped out in front of the traffic first Photo: GETTY
Biologists studying the herding instinct of humans have analysed the road crossing behaviour of pedestrians at a crossing in a busy city centre.
They found that pedestrians were up to 2.5 times more likely cross a busy road if someone else stepped out in front of the traffic first. Men were also more likely to follow others into the road than females.
In some cases individuals started to cross before scuttling back to the kerb after realising the danger they were in.
Dr Jolyon Faria, who was at Leeds University when he conducted the study but is now at Princeton University, said he was hoping to investigate how people respond to the behaviour of their neighbours in potentially dangerous situations.
He said: "Crossing the road is a dangerous scenario, so we thought it would be interesting to see whether people's behaviour was influenced by those on either side of them.
"There is a potential advantage to following others when they cross because when others cross the road it usually indicates a gap in the traffic and gives the benefit of getting across the road faster.
"The disadvantages are quite serious though you may be injured by a vehicle.
"It could be that people feel safer when they are crossing with others. Perhaps its an effect from our evolutionary past."
Dr Faria analysed the behaviour of 365 people as they waited to cross at a pedestrian crossing in Leeds during rush hour over a three-day period.
Using computer simulations he was also able to examine what would happen if the pedestrians chose to ignore those around them, or followed the lead of others in the group.
It revealed that the pedestrians were 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to cross the road on average if the person next to them stepped out first. Dr Faria said that men tended to follow their neighbours more often than women waiting to cross the road.
"It could be that men are more likely to take the risk of following someone across the road and women are more conscious of their surroundings," said Dr Faria, whose research has been published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and PlanetEarth Online.
Herding behaviour is common in the natural world. Wildebeests tend to wait nervously at the edge of rivers waiting for one to cross first before they all follow in a bid to avoid being attacked by crocodiles waiting in the water.
Shoals of fish also stick together in an attempt to reduce the chance of being eat and penguins wait at the edge of an ice flow for a brave individual to dive into the water first before the rest follow in a bid to avoid waiting leopard seals.
Lemmings migrate in large numbers and often follow each other into fast flowing lakes and rivers where they can drown.
Dr Faria added: "The behaviour we were seeing was much like swallows sitting on a line or penguins at an ice flow, where they are thinking about what they want to do while also watching those around them and trying to work out the optimal strategy."
He said he hoped his research might help to make people think twice before stepping out into the road. Around 13,000 pedestrians are injured each year crossing the road in the UK.
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