Utilization of “Flat Escorting Line ; Fel” for the Visually Disabled as “Catch Blocks”

Abstract

The Catch Blocks are placed on the sidewalk in order to inform the visually disabled circumstance or to guide them to the nearby buildings. The Catch Blocks might be barriers for not only non-users but also users, because of the unevenness on the surface of tactile warning blocks which compose the Catch Blocks. In this study, the authors used "Flat Escorting Line; FEL" which has flat surface and can inform the visually disabled circumstance with tactile information and sound from elasticity material, and inspected validity of using FEL as the Catch Block with walking experiment, comparing FEL with the tactile warning blocks.