Originally Posted by
43Inches
In the case of passengers and evacuations, they are frightened and confused, half of them already had bags out ready to disembark. The general rule I've always considered is people will get injured in evacuations, that's the risk of it, you can't expect the great masses to act like a bunch of crack soldiers when the alarms sound. Even trained professionals make mistakes, the average human is liable to do anything when suddenly startled into fight or flight mode.
That's still the crux of it unfortunately. I've often pondered that in a evac where the structure of the aircraft has broken up and the entire cabin is scrambling - i'd fully expect passengers to open over wing exits straight into smoke, fire or high water despite being specifically briefed not to, potentially only minutes before.