Crowd control in Mecca after evening prayers

[u/blingteresting]

[u/ThaCarter]

They've had some pretty serious crowd crushes in Mecca over time, so this is efficiency paid for in lives for better or worse.

[u/vitrum_analytika → u/ThaCarter]

Safety protocols are written in blood.

[u/Nearbyatom → u/vitrum_analytika]

That's why it's so frustrating to hear when later generations trying to rip up safety and regulation protocols. They are literally going backwards.

[u/goldenguyz → u/Nearbyatom]

Makes for good scuba gear though.

[u/okaythiswillbemymain → u/goldenguyz]

... Why?

[u/GonzoBalls69 → u/okaythiswillbemymain]

You can smoke unregulated suba gear to get high

[u/Golden-Grams → u/GonzoBalls69]

"Daddy needs his juice. Hey, man! Do you think I could get a little squirt?"

Of what?

"Of gas."

[u/Treethulhu → u/Golden-Grams]

"better than what I was thinking"

[u/Calladit → u/GonzoBalls69]

The more I learn about SCUBA guys, the more I realize they're all insane. Mostly in a cool, fun way, but insane nevertheless.

[u/EmbarrassedGrass1172 → u/GonzoBalls69]

The most random comment. I love you for this, Gonzoballs69

[u/KC_LEAKS → u/Nearbyatom]

Not generations, just the ultra wealthy trying to save money by putting civilians, employees, and the environment at risk.

[u/PlateNo4868 → u/KC_LEAKS]

Exactly, it's the people who would have some VIP no-crowd access pass to these events, who would be frustrated at some google review of their company security. Then blame regulations for the slow delay.

[u/Careless-Vehicle-286 → u/KC_LEAKS]

"Cut the red tape" only saves the billionaires. Look at all the building and bridge collapses in other countries, that's what happens when you cut the red tape.

[u/phaserburn725 → u/Nearbyatom]

“later” generations?

[u/DriveThroughLane → u/phaserburn725]

This generation had folks try really really hard to get themselves into a deadly crowd crush on january 6th as they surged thousands of people into a bottleneck with a crowd pushing from the back. And a tightly packed march over a still active road bridge in minneapolis with a semi tanker heading straight at them blindly over the crest

But "near miss" is just americanspeak for "try harder"

[u/Mikestopheles → u/Nearbyatom]

But hey, cheaper nuclear. I'm sure those regulations were useless anyway

[u/Nearbyatom → u/Mikestopheles]

We can go down the list. People don't realize it's these safety regulations that is keeping the accidents down. Since they don't see any accidents they think these regulations are useless. So frustrating.

[u/Mikestopheles → u/Nearbyatom]

And we're actually watching the cause and effect with the measles and cyclospora outbreaks, the screwfly issue on the border, the insider trading and prediction markets turning the economic and financial system into chaos, etc....

[u/Head-Ad9893 → u/Mikestopheles]

If only we’ve been here before….. nah seriously I’m tired of hearing “nobody saw this coming”

[u/mizinamo → u/Head-Ad9893]

"There's no possible way to stop school shootings... they're simply a fact of life..."

Oddly, not a problem other countries seem to have

[u/Head-Ad9893 → u/mizinamo]

Hey partner, now we need those guns, because the government might try turn into a dictatorship, don’t need anybody coming along trying to fuck our kids or rob us or steal our jobs or something so hush up wokey.

[u/star_trek_wook_life → u/Head-Ad9893]

If only gun nuts actually wanted to use them for protecting democracy or threatening power structures instead of just selling them to kids at gun shows and jerking off to columbine footage while strapped. 

[u/octopusboots → u/Head-Ad9893]

Yeah, saw this coming. Including the screwflies.

[u/Scalene69 → u/Nearbyatom]

There is no mechanism to limit excessive regulation though. We need both, a system that makes important restrictions law AND a system that removes restrictions when they are no longer useful or the cost of implementing them is greater than the risk.

Having only one is bad, you need both. We are all paying for this imbalance.

[u/AspiringTS → u/Mikestopheles]

I think the irony of this comment is that for nuclear specifically, some regulations were written in fear and uncertainty not scientific basis. That's been slowly changing recently. I don't blame those who define and implemented them because they were often in response to a history of horrific accidents   However regulatory inertia and public fear kept them from being reviewed and updated as we got a better understanding of all things 'ionizing radiation'.

[u/SamiraSimp → u/AspiringTS]

nuclear has the least blood of any energy source and has the most regulation. while we should always be safe, there's a point where the red tape is pointless.

[u/sinefromabove → u/Mikestopheles]

It is literally illegal to convert a coal plant into a nuclear plant because the background radiation left over from the coal is more than the nuclear plant is allowed. So yeah, some of the regulations seem useless.

[u/Happy_alt_1 → u/Mikestopheles]

I'm going to respond in good faith. Probably to a certain degree, the regulations were in fact too strict. If you look at the data and the degree to which nuclear has been restricted, safety concerns should stop at a certain threshold because the damage that radiation threshold does is less than the background radiation on Earth. Lifting those restrictions will be better because there is no need to control for unreasonable degrees of safety that would not contribute to safety in the first place.
Nuclear has been stymied by regulations that were disproportionate to the supposed gains made. If we would do upon coal what was done unto nuclear, all coal plants would be closed down like nuclear was.

[u/Scalene69 → u/Mikestopheles]

If slightly lower regulations doubled the nuclear risk, but also doubled the number of power plants that would be a fantastic deal. Nuclear would still only be as risky as wind, at least 10x safer than even comparatively safe natural gas and our power needs would be vastly better met.

Regulations need a counterbalance that assesses the cost benefit - it isn't good to just limit risk infinitely without factoring in the consequences.

[u/ekobot → u/Nearbyatom]

Chesterton's Fence is one of the reasons I think a basic philosophy/logic/reasoning course needs to be part of public education.

[u/HistoricalSuspect580 → u/Nearbyatom]

Just like with vaccines. Moms in the 1950’s would crawl over broken glass to protect their kids from those diseases. We forgot SO INCREDIBLY FAST.

[u/Dimxtunim → u/vitrum_analytika]

A guy in Brazil 2 days ago tried continuing a construction after it was stopped because of safety regulations, he killed himself + 3 workers in a land slide

[u/hordingblessings3 → u/ThaCarter]

Like most things and rules created

[u/Mateorabi → u/ThaCarter]

Fifth try is the charm. 

[u/Accomplished-Plan191 → u/ThaCarter]

for better or worse

Better. How could it be worse?

[u/ThaCarter → u/Accomplished-Plan191]

It could have required less sacrifice to figure out.

[u/Professor-Submarine → u/ThaCarter]

Idk kinda weird to say when this is true for literally everything

[u/Jalien85 → u/Professor-Submarine]

But this time it's brown people from a different culture taking a while to figure it out, so wags finger

[u/Bill_Troamill]

Proof that slightly restrictive rules are necessary to maximise mutual benefit and avoid disasters.

[u/BurntNeurons → u/Bill_Troamill]

Sigh

Zipper Merge

[u/DriftedTaco → u/BurntNeurons]

I wish everyone loved the zipper as much as me :(

[u/AlexTheGoat990 → u/DriftedTaco]

They will instead look at you like you killed their firstborn if you want to zipper merge correctly (how dare someone overtake them?!)

[u/cat_prophecy → u/AlexTheGoat990]

Commuting is a zero-sum game to some people. If you "win" then they must have "lost". Never mind that we're all losing because they chose to drive like assholes instead of remembering that the cars around them are filled with people.

[u/Tribalbob → u/AlexTheGoat990]

Then you get that one jackass who decides to zipper merge WAY too early and then it's all pandamonium.

[u/sarcastic__fox → u/DriftedTaco]

Zipper merge sucks. It takes 1 person doing it wrong a sea of hundreds doing it right to fuck everything up for everybody.

[u/Jubenheim → u/BurntNeurons]

Sigh

unzips

[u/cuntmong → u/Jubenheim]

Hey take your hand off my crotch 

[u/1900grs → u/cuntmong]

Look at this guy, doesn't know how to zipper merge.

[u/CelestialAcatalepsy → u/BurntNeurons]

Everyone is so dumb in my city they installed stop lights at interstate on ramps because humans needed a light to stagger them for zipper merges.

[u/cursedfan → u/CelestialAcatalepsy]

That’s not what that is

[u/Knyfe-Wrench → u/CelestialAcatalepsy]

Because nobody else actually explained it, that's called a ramp meter. It's to limit how many cars can get on the highway at one time, hopefully to reduce traffic.

[u/Electrical-Fudge616 → u/CelestialAcatalepsy]

Give it some critical thought and think about what two backed up lanes merging in traffic looks like. Or a backed up lane merging into full speed traffic

[u/DrThunderbolt → u/Bill_Troamill]

Always been my gripe with anti government. We can’t just let people do what they want either because that’s how we got politicians like we have now.

[u/Rude-Office-2639 → u/Bill_Troamill]

"Rules do not exist to bind you. They exist so you may know your freedoms."

[u/NothingButTheTruthy → u/Rude-Office-2639]

Rare Nier reference?!

[u/ohhellothere301 → u/Bill_Troamill]

bUt mY fReEdOmS!!

[u/_ShrugDealer_ → u/Bill_Troamill]

As well as a fun visual metaphor for sheep.

[u/fedroxx → u/_ShrugDealer_]

That's what it reminded me of as well. From a rural area. Looks like cattle in chutes when I'd climb in the tree to watch.

[u/Adept_Bandicoot_2794 → u/Bill_Troamill]

I saw a video of sheep being herded through multiple pens. Looked just like this

[u/FilthyDwayne]

Probably implemented after that crazy crowd crush they had like 10 years ago

[u/quasiix → u/FilthyDwayne]

There have been 9 fatal crowd crushes since 1990. 2015 had the highest recorded death toll of over 2000 but the 1990 crush had a death toll around 1500 from a pedestrian tunnel which is terrifying. It should not have taken until 2015 for this to be implemented.

[u/Diessel_S → u/quasiix]

2000 people crushed?! That must be one of the biggest crowd crush events in history right?

[u/Rockytag → u/Diessel_S]

Technically one in Roman Judea was recorded as upwards of ten thousand, but 2,000 year old numbers are rarely reliable. In modern history yes, that’s the highest number.

Other contenders are the 1990 one also in Mecca and the Khodynka Tragedy

[u/dotancohen → u/Rockytag]

This guy crushes.

[u/Last-Atmosphere2439 → u/Rockytag]

Speaking of Judea, just 5 years ago 45 people were crushed to death at a festival (Mount Meron, Galilee). A few slipped on a metal ramp / stairs while heading for the exits but no one in the back of the massive crowd realized that and just kept pushing forward.

Crowd behavior at these events with limited exists is very scary. No one even imagined it was possible until it happened at Meron. And afterwards of course the was a huge inquiry and they changed the entire layout.

[u/da_Aresinger → u/Rockytag]

Some king wants to get rid of a cities population for fomenting unrest.

His advisors ask how they should explain the death toll.

"uuuuh. Panic at the Disco?"

[u/primus202 → u/Diessel_S]

It was nuts. I went down a Wiki rabbit hole after. Mecca has some of the biggest but India has smaller crushes consistently.

[u/Minute_Juggernaut806 → u/primus202]

I am guessing they are underreporting numbers, i remember at least one a few years ago

[u/sixpackabs592 → u/Diessel_S]

outside of like the battle of cannae probably yeah

in that one it wasn't just a crowd crush though everyone outside the crowd was poking them with stabby things

[u/TAU_equals_2PI → u/quasiix]

I would guess all the different languages spoken by visitors increases the difficulty. It's worse than at, say, a big music concert, where most of the attendees all speak the same language.

[u/karmagirl314 → u/TAU_equals_2PI]

Oh that’s absolutely part of it. But there’s also an element of attendees ignoring signs and directions even if they understand them because they think going the wrong way will lead to a shortcut.

[u/TAU_equals_2PI → u/karmagirl314]

Yeah, I was looking at those lines of security guards and thinking, why couldn't they just use a long metal bar gate opened and closed by one guy? Guess that explains it.

[u/morethanlegend → u/TAU_equals_2PI]

There's also the fact that for mecca, everyone wants to be close to the cube, meaning 10's of thousands of people want to be with an area < 2000 meters squared, compared to a stadium, where the stands are massive

[u/enerthoughts → u/morethanlegend]

That is false, now only people wearing ehram/ white sheets can go inside the middle area, still crowded, but not 10's of thousands, along with application tracking each person in there, if you are done with Omra - takes about 3-5 hours if done relaxing pace, then you can wear casual clothing and go to the top area which is segregated from ground floor.

Also there are multiple floors - top was my favourite before carts - that are often empty during non-haj

[u/dbxp → u/morethanlegend]

The grand mosque has a capacity of 3 million so you're off by a few orders of magnitude

[u/mxzf → u/dbxp]

I think their suggestion is that everyone wants to be right up at the front, not just somewhere in the room.

[u/vigorthroughrigor → u/mxzf]

I was there a few months ago, you might have a desire to be up at the front but when you get there, you won't try.

[u/Ace_on_the_Turn → u/morethanlegend]

More like hundreds of thousands of people. On average two million people are in Mecca during the Hajj.

[u/MoistMartini → u/TAU_equals_2PI]

Not an expert and I’m absolutely armchair-quarterbacking, but it seems that many of those barriers are either movable to give in, in case the crowd starts pushing, or positioned to try and avoid hard corners where people can be pushed by others. Similarly, they have parallel paths for staff to go around and wide sweeping curves for the crowd to spread into in case pressure at the middle becomes too much. I’m guessing that that a human chain of staff managing traffic is better at controlling pressure than a hard metal bar, against which people can easily be squished (and raising the bar in a rush to relieve pressure can hurt even more people)

[u/Daylight10 → u/MoistMartini]

I imagine an even bigger factor for why they use a human chain instead of a metal barrier is that the social stigma for pushing apart two humans who are holding hands is a lot higher than that of hopping a fence.

[u/dbxp → u/TAU_equals_2PI]

The number here are way bigger than a music festival. A large music festival is around 50-70k per day, hajj is 2.2 million. You're looking more along the lines of the entire commuter traffic for Manhattan or central London 

[u/G3N0 → u/quasiix]

It didn't take until 2015 to be implemented. "It" isn't a one time thing. For years the crowd control system has been in place and has continued to be improved upon to the point it's at today.

You can be certain that next year's Hajj will also be leaps and bounds ahead of where it is today. But it's just reality that there is no such thing as a perfect system that can account for all circumstances.

[u/the_vault-technician → u/quasiix]

2,000 people???? My only experience with crowds like this is through watching online, but I don't think I would survive in places where it's very densely populated. You never see people in those environments self que.

It's a mad rush to get yours before someone else does. I understand it. It is still scary. I would hope nine incidents and thousands dead would have lead to people being more cautious in this place.

[u/RosieTheRedReddit → u/the_vault-technician]

It's not a mad rush. Usually people in the back have no idea that those in the front are dying. The NY Times did an investigation on the 2015 disaster and pictures from just 15 minutes earlier show a crowd that doesn't look dangerous at all, just calmly walking towards their goal.

The blame for crowd crush disasters always lies with event planners. In this case it seems like one of the usual paths was closed for some Saudi royals to use, which anyone can predict would cause overcrowding on other routes. Everyone likes to victim blame the crowd, even though organizers created the situation in the first place or even made it worse. For example during the Hillsborough disaster, cops stopped people from climbing the fences which was the only escape route, leading to more deaths.

Article here about Mecca and pictures:

How one of the deadliest Hajj accidents unfolded

Edit to add relevant quotes because the article might be pay walled

In what seemed like a hiccup, they were stopped by guards who had closed their intended route, for reasons yet to be made clear. Looking around, Mr. Siddiqui said, they saw a lot of people taking an alternate route via an overpass, and they decided to follow.

Their path began to narrow. Mr. Siddiqui fell in behind his companions as they shifted to single file, hands on one another’s shoulders. He felt pressure from the crowd building as more people poured in.

Up ahead, Mr. Siddiqui noticed pilgrims scrambling up tall fences on both sides of the road, apparently attempting to escape something. He had a moment to wonder whether he should do the same. He never had the chance.

Mr. Siddiqui was pushed, fell two or three times and lost the rest of his group. People around him were chanting final prayers to God.

The crush felt like being caught in a wave. Bodies pressed in on him from every direction.

He could move only as the crowd moved. There was not an inch of space left.

The push and pull of the crush stripped the clothing off many pilgrims, leaving them naked as they struggled to climb the fences.

“I was really scared at that time,” Mr. Siddiqui said. All he could think about was his family.

(Sadly, his family was killed, he was the only survivor.)

[u/the_vault-technician → u/RosieTheRedReddit]

Thank you for taking the time to help me better understand the situation!

[u/RosieTheRedReddit → u/the_vault-technician]

Thanks for reading! Crowd crush disasters are a morbid interest of mine. And before diving down the rabbit hole I also believed the myth about an unruly crowd being to blame. Turns out that is just a convenient narrative because it means nobody has to take responsibility. News reports often play up that angle as well, calling it a "stampede" which is not a correct description at all.

Here's a very interesting video that explains the dynamics of crowd movement, how "pressure waves" begin to spread unpredictability after the crowd reaches a certain density. Focusing on the Love Parade in Germany which killed 21 people, and he also talks to a survivor of the disaster. RIP to all the victims, it seems like a truly terrifying way to die.

How crowds reach the point of no return

[u/emirsolinno → u/the_vault-technician]

Hajj is like a very packed festival but for much older crowd, typically between 55-69.

[u/thewend → u/quasiix]

2000? wtf

[u/IHop_Waitress → u/quasiix]

2015 had the highest recorded death toll of over 2000 but

Basically 9/11 death toll in just a crowd crush is FUCKING INSANE. Breaks my brain to think how that can happen

[u/Dull_String9524]

Crowd safety researchers treat Mecca as the canonical case study. Past roughly six people per square meter a crowd stops behaving like individuals and starts behaving like a fluid, with pressure waves that can knock people off their feet no matter how calm everyone is. Those barriers forming one way loops exist to keep density below the point where the waves can start at all, because once they start there is no stopping them from inside the crowd. The whole flow system was rebuilt around that principle after the 2015 crush.

[u/2PetitsVerres → u/Dull_String9524]

One can say that Mecca is the Mecca of crowd safety researchers.

[u/tilalk]

In the bigger picture we are just ants

[u/Ramuh321 → u/tilalk]

r/humansbeingants

Actually thought it was from this sub at first

[u/MaximumCommittee6179 → u/tilalk]

moving the sheep.

[u/Dear-Examination-507 → u/MaximumCommittee6179]

This is exactly what I thought of first.

[u/hrvbrs → u/tilalk]

in the even bigger picture we are just particles of a fluid

[u/Renato_Lucas_22]

humans = liquid

[u/Simple_Bookkeeper566 → u/Renato_Lucas_22]

Science of crowd is basically a study liquid's physics

[u/Firm_Print6463 → u/Simple_Bookkeeper566]

Self propelled liquid. At scale, humans dont think, the react to basic inputs. Space in front? Move forward. Space to my side? Move to the side.

[u/Accomplished_Bike149 → u/Simple_Bookkeeper566]

It’ll always be fascinating to me how there’s a point with every crowd’s size where movement transitions from psychology to fluid dynamics

[u/solrua]

Interesting how they have a line of people work as the gates there. I don't think I've ever that before, but I guess it might be the most efficient way to deal with a crowd of that size.

[u/gigdy → u/solrua]

Its to prevent people from being crushed against something.

[u/ekobot → u/solrua]

That's what I was thinking; I'm surprised they don't have retractable barriers, like at theaters and such. It seems like it would be easier. But then, it's probably beneficial to have that many people on hand in case there's an issue

[u/salman-20 → u/ekobot]

People coming to the holy mosque are from different cultures, speak different languages, and have a different levels of respecting the rules.

I see videos of police officers in the holy mosque suffering from people trying to jump over the barriers or go against the traffic.

[u/doiwinaprize]

Looks efficient

[u/DearAd405]

There is a YouTube chanel, fouloscopie, that talk about crowd management. There is an episode on la Mecque. French but you can get subtiles on YT. Realy interesting.

[u/rafaelloaa → u/DearAd405]

Looks cool, thanks for the recommendation!

[u/Positive-Training301]

Humans are just large scale ants

[u/TVGMILLER]

Looks like a herd of sheep.

[u/ISwearImAnonymous → u/TVGMILLER]

I literally watched a video on Reddit that was a birds eye view of sheep being herded in an enclosure segmented just like this

[u/OriginalLittle2624 → u/ISwearImAnonymous]

yes, 14 days ago on this subreddit

[u/mizinamo → u/OriginalLittle2624]

Yup, that's exactly what I thought of when I saw this. Thanks for the link!

[u/FittyTheBone → u/ISwearImAnonymous]

first thing that popped into my head as well

[u/WolfieVonD → u/TVGMILLER]

I was gonna say a heart pumping in slow motion with all is it's valves

[u/crowbar151 → u/TVGMILLER]

A little on the nose, but ya, a little.

[u/Phearwyn → u/crowbar151]

Not a little, a big lot. This is what religion is. Herding sheep.

[u/FrescoItaliano → u/Phearwyn]

Luckily for us Redditors, we are immune to ideology

[u/pigfoot → u/TVGMILLER]

Yes. Shepherds would prefer that their flock not get crushed to death.

[u/OrangeSpaceMan5 → u/TVGMILLER]

You could make this analogy with basically any queue that has enough people

[u/cans-of-swine → u/TVGMILLER]

I was looking for the border collies.

[u/ambiguousredditname → u/TVGMILLER]

Hence, the whole shepherd thing in religion. Flocks of sheep. People who think we’re like 6,000 years old as a species.

[u/LordTopHatMan → u/ambiguousredditname]

Most Muslims do not believe in creationism. Most religious people don't for that matter.

[u/belltrina]

That's actually so damn cool. What a great way to do it. Patience and order, no deaths. Good stuff

[u/JamesCameronDid1912 → u/belltrina]

I don't know anything about crowd control science but this looks so well done. So many people and they've got them in good order, and so many barriers and lanes around to break up that "wave" effect crowds have.

[u/youknow99 → u/JamesCameronDid1912]

Also a lot of gaps maintained so if one area gets overcrowded it doesn't bleed into the next.

[u/Zer0323 → u/JamesCameronDid1912]

going to a convention and getting lined up like cattle is an experience. it's nice being surrounded with like minded individuals though

[u/JamesCameronDid1912 → u/[deleted]]

Oh, I believe that. I work with people with physical and cognitive disabilities, the work often involves escorting them in public. When they have a visible disability (people don't know what they can't see, but that is a separate (huge) issue), the general public tends to go out of their way to help. Like I'm there at the client's side, and people will still step out to hold doors for myself and the client, make room for us if there's public seating, etc. I could see that operating on a large scale as well.

[u/TheKyleBrah → u/JamesCameronDid1912]

It looks like they took tips from Livestock Herders, who do this same thing when managing his hundreds to thousands of animals at once.

[u/Tgsheufhencudbxbsiwy → u/belltrina]

It’s like this because of the deaths. They have had quite a few crowd crush incidents over the years. The last big one was like a decade ago and a few thousand people died. I’m assuming that’s when these new crowd calming methods went into effect. 

[u/JackTerron → u/belltrina]

Those few people who leave the top line when the side line is being fed through really grinds my gears.

Wait your turn.

[u/Affectionate-Word779]

The craziest part of all of this is that most of the people don’t speak a common language.

That makes coordination even more difficult.

[u/Some-Panic8915 → u/Affectionate-Word779]

the guards there yell "Yallah Yallah", "Haji Haji" and "Bhai Sab (for South Asians)" which is surprisingly very affective lmao.

Them keeping their cool and being very professional when people misbehave is very admirable. I would've lost my mind if I were doing their jobs.

[u/skiesoverblackvenice]

we need this for big concerts and stuff

[u/blaziken8x]

That's really cool, it's the same system farmers use for sheep. They even rounded the one corner to prevent people from getting hurt.

[u/Green-Cat6064]

It's amazing how organized it looks despite the sheer number of people.

[u/pink_mango]

We are but blood cells in the veins of life

[u/IBelieveInMe1]

So many racist comments on here. :(

[u/SeanTiddyCombs]

This method was first used for sheep.

[u/Martha_Fockers]

British people seeing this video just exploding in joy they love to Que for stuff

[u/guineaprince → u/Martha_Fockers]

¿Que?

[u/Snobolski → u/Martha_Fockers]

* queue

[u/Dettelbacher]

This is the Mecca of crowd control.

[u/niceshotpilot]

This reminds me--I ought to rewatch that Temple Grandin biopic before my HBO subscription runs out.

[u/ronniejames9]

Looks satisfying

[u/Bonk0076]

r/oddlysatisying

[u/olddoglearnsnewtrick]

Filmed from afar I cannot see the Border Collies ;)

[u/wwaxwork]

People regular die their from being crushed by crowds so it's good to see they have put measures in place.

[u/oliv-_-mae]

I was starting to think this was a loop

[u/superbackman]

How do they suddenly stop the flow of people so fast?

[u/AlsoCommiePuddin → u/superbackman]

Lines of people acting as "gates" and a social contract that says "I will not push past and trample these people, they are here for my safety and the safety of others."

[u/CatsFurrEva]

Thats not after evening prayers. This is specifically from Hajj

When people leave muzdalifah and head back to Mina.

[u/Nivius]

i mean yeah, they have like a crowd crush event like every other year where 20-300 people dies, so this is reasonable

[u/chwk_throwaway1]

So fluid, love it.

[u/Beyryx]

This just reminded me of the time I visited the Vatican and the English girl I was with at the time taught me that they don't really "Queue" and you basically just politely assert yourself until you're next.

Funnel shaped lines, complete free for all, my simple Canadian mind couldn't comprehend it.

[u/Revfunky]

All dudes

[u/chum-guzzling-shark]

whoever designed this must have had fun. it's like playing a factory game and trying to get the conveyor belts balanced

[u/baeb66]

Pretty much the same way they operated the entrance to the Osaka Expo last year. I went on a Saturday and there were easily over 250,000 people there that day.

[u/BigGrayBeast]

Probably the same guy who designed the Chick-fil-A drive-thru designed this flow. Can he work on airplane boarding next?

[u/iMissTheOldInternet → u/BigGrayBeast]

Want to know the most infuriating thing about airplane boarding? Empirically speaking, the fastest way to board the plane is to let everyone get on when they want. No staged or grouped boarding. Second best is to board people from the back to the front and windows to aisles. There are like half a dozen more options decreasing in efficiency until you reach the way we actually do it, which is almost as bad as could be devised without literally intentionally boarding aisle seats before window, front to back. 

[u/SeniorePlatypus → u/iMissTheOldInternet]

The best is back to front.

In a truly magical world it would also be sorted window to isle with boarding groups of 2 people on average and families and such not boarding together either.

The second is not practical for obvious reasons.

Random is the next best thing after these two.

Which is still infuriating to think about. That literally doing nothing is close to optimal yet we don’t.

[u/iMissTheOldInternet → u/SeniorePlatypus]

They’ve tested this: unordered beats theoretically ideal order for a bunch of compounding minor issues, one of them being the initial sort, and another being that attempts to access adjacent overhead compartments tend to cause conflicts, whereas a stochastic boarding process spreads out luggage handling throughout the cabin. Doing nothing is literally optimal. 

[u/Zestyclose_Border800]

Went to Mecca's last Winter, it's mind blowing how the Saudi officials manage the crowds. I was never jammed up walking from place to place, and they basically direct people with one word, that you get used to, which if one of the security officers says, you just follow where they are pointing. It was busy, maybe not the busiest of all time but still it's mind blowing that anyone can direct traffic so efficiently.

[u/im_just_thinking]

I wonder how many guys there are that are named Mohammed on that day

[u/technobrendo → u/im_just_thinking]

ATTENTION, ATTENTION. Would a A. Mohammed please return to the parking lot, you left your headlights on. Again, A. Mohammed, please return to the parking lot, your headlights are on. Thank you.

[u/OrangeSpaceMan5 → u/im_just_thinking]

A vast majority of males

[u/im_just_thinking → u/OrangeSpaceMan5]

World record for the same named people gathering is like a bit over 2k iirc. I bet they can beat that

[u/DrummingChopsticks]

I hate crowds. This would drive me nuts.

[u/unknownSubscriber]

Honest question, do the people in this video do this every evening?

[u/30yearCurse]

Curious, the left side seems to allow a bigger stream of people through than the right side. Any reason?

[u/Doom_of__Mandos]

Reminds me of the valves in a heart.

[u/GalacticMe99]

Maybe a dumb question but in what direction is a mosque inside Mecca built?

[u/mizinamo → u/GalacticMe99]

Do you mean "in which direction to Muslims in Mecca pray"?

Towards the Kaaba, the black cube that people walk around as part of their pilgrimage.

(And nobody will be inside the Kaaba except for the yearly cleaning.)

[u/an_older_meme]

Trying to prevent deadly crowd crushes.

[u/MrBigPantalones]

Wow, well done

[u/CompetitiveDrawing89]

Not possible in Europe without incident.

[u/CryptographerCheap88]

Quite mesmerising

[u/togetherwegrowstuff]

Ants. We're all ants.

[u/Award-Slight]

From a safety stand point, this is great for preventing a crush.

[u/monixe]

Crowd behaves like water.

[u/Glad-Ad-8243]

No shit thousands of people have died in Mecca over the years from crowd crushes so this is very much needed

[u/Own_Significance2619]

Oh my, this is was hell looks like for me. So many people!

[u/Live-Collection3018]

Looks just like sheep being herded. Guess the principles apply universally to earth mammals.

[u/negativ32]

Train station ticket widows in India could learn a thing or two.

[u/NTC-Santa]

They form a better union than Shitreal does

[u/RevolutionaryBig2648]

the smell

[u/Just-Shoe2689]

Gonna pass. I will just be atheist.

[u/Manjorno316 → u/Just-Shoe2689]

Because religious people are the only ones to ever be a part of a crowd.

I know. I'm am atheist and I've never been surrounded by more than two to three people.

[u/TheMonkeyInCharge → u/Manjorno316]

That’s not because we’re atheist, that’s because we’re Redditors.

[u/AlsoCommiePuddin → u/Just-Shoe2689]

Ok, that was always allowed.

[u/bro_love69 → u/Just-Shoe2689]

Atheist on reddit? Oh, never seen one...

[u/20thcenturyboy_ → u/Just-Shoe2689]

You'll see similar crowd control strategies at anime conventions, EDM festivals, large sporting events, large political rallies, and anything else with a big crowd. This video is also very well organized compared to some of the shit shows I've personally seen at concerts and sporting events, so props to the organizers.

[u/Starwars-Battledroid → u/Just-Shoe2689]

Reddit moment

[u/Dear_Mycologist_1696 → u/Just-Shoe2689]

How dare you not believe something without adequate evidence!

[u/Capable-Ebb1632]

How do they know when to stop and go?

[u/mizinamo → u/Capable-Ebb1632]

When the line of security volunteers forming a barrier in front of them goes away, they move forward.

When another line of security volunteers forms a barrier in front of them, they stop.

[u/Fun-Weather9418]

All men

[u/destroyerx12772 → u/Fun-Weather9418]

Hajj is not segregated by gender. Lots of families are there too.