Psychological Analysis on Visually Impaired Persons' Falling from Railway Platform.

Abstract

A case study of the accidents of visually impaired persons' falling from a railway platform was conducted. In this study, 15 subjects were interviewed in 38 cases. This research revealed that (1) 89% of the cases we surveyed occurred while they were moving along a platform; (2) the walking distance before the fall was less than 20 meters in 70% of the studied cases; (3) 47% of the victims fell while using a white cane on a platform paved with textured blocks; (4) typical causes were inappropriately designed or laid blocks, and victims' over-habituation; (5) 58% were helped back to the platform after fall (not returning by themselves) and (6) 16% suffered broken bones or were wounded seriously.

Research on Utilization of Tactile Tiles and Behavior of Visually Impaired Persons on Railway Platforms

“…To arrange tactile tiles on platforms is one of the second point. Generally speaking, tactile tiles are the minimum requirements for visually impaired persons to move on a platform and they have limits for preventing accidents such as falling from a platform 3) . However it seems they don't quite contribute to the prevention of falling accidents.…”

Tactile Ground Surface Indicator Widening and its Effect on Users' Detection Abilities

“…Although there are a number of factors involved in fall accidents involving visually impaired persons 4) 5) , it is not uncommon for victims to say, "I didn't notice the DTs on the platform edge" when citing the cause 4) . To prevent such accidents, it may be useful to widen the DTs in order to decrease the probability of stepping over them, or to increase the number of foot-DT contact points, thereby improving their detectability.…”