Subjective Evaluation of Identifying Boundaries of Railroad Crossing by the Visually Impaired Based on Walking Experiment

In Japan, various safety measures have been installed to assist visually impaired individuals in walking outdoors, including at railroad crossings. Specifically, even with the installation of Tactile Walking Surface Indicators (TWSI), which focus on preventing deviations toward the roadway or ballast, there is a risk of misidentification between the inside and outside of the crossing because the bar blocks inside the crossing have the same shape as those on the sidewalk. Furthermore, the walking characteristics of visually impaired individuals have not been sufficiently considered. In this study, we conducted an evaluation experiment at a railroad crossing near Okusawa Station to clarify issues related to the TWSI installed both inside and outside the crossing from the perspective of visually impaired individuals. In the experiment, two types of trials were conducted with visually impaired individuals: first trial involved the use of TWSI both inside and outside the crossing, while in the second trial, walls or fences were used in place of the TWSI outside the crossing. After the trials, participants were interviewed about their “level of confidence in determining the position of the crossing boundary” and “ease of understanding the boundaries between the inside and outside of the railroad crossing.” The results indicated that participants found it more difficult to understand the boundaries when exiting the crossing than when entering it. This suggests potential issues with the current TWSI installations at railroad crossings.