Come before people start to go back (7)
I believe the answer is:
precede
'come before' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'people start to go back' is the wordplay.
'start to' says to take the initial letters.
'go back' becomes 'recede' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'people' is 'p'.
'p'+'recede'='PRECEDE'
(Other definitions for precede that I've seen before include "Lead the way" , "Take the lead" , "Come before (something)" , "be in the van" , "Go in front" .)