I was nearly crushed in the 2000 Olympic announcement held there, and that was a happy occasion. It would probably only take a small panic in such a large mass of people on that topography for there to be deaths by crushing in my opinion.
Australian here. Limit is 100km/h? Fine, set cruise to 100 and relax. Not fast enough? Tough, that's your problem. (but we get fined for 3km/h over here.)
I think it was due to a lack of precision, and possible complications in maintaining an even speed while changing between low gears. Mine's a 2003 model.
A BBC would be.