Adaptations for independent movement of blind people on the street and in transport -
The experience of the Czech Republic

by Viktor Dudr (Czech Republic)
Member, EBU Commission on Mobility and Guide Dogs


Paper given at the EBU Mobility and Transport Conference held in Paris on 14-15 October 2002





1. Background of technical adaptations for safe and independent movement of the blind on the street and in the transport

Blind people or people with very low vision can move independently only if they accept their impairment and go through a thorough mobility training. Such training has to be accessible to all people with a severe visual impairment from school children, to the youth, to newly blind adults. Territorial and financial accessibility of such training (in appropriate forms as a part of school training, or on day-care or residential basis) and its highest quality have to be guaranteed. The most efficient and best quality training from the client's point of view are one-on-one, individual courses. Only after completing the training can a non-sighted person find the courage to walk down the street independently and gather experience, skills and routine. This was discussed at a different point of this conference.

The remaining senses have to make up for the missing or weak sight. The sense of touch, mediated by the white cane, foot or - inside of buildings - by hand (trailling), is the most important. The sense of hearing and - occasionally - the sense of smell follow. All the technical adaptations designed to facilitate movement must be based on this fact. That means that it is necessary to build on the principles and rules governing the independent movement of a blind person with a white cane, that is on the methodological principles and rules of mobility training.

In the Czech Republic, the system of adaptations was designed by Czech Blind United - by the users themselves - in the 1990s. The definitions and standards for user features of proposed adjustments, that is the characteristics and functions of specific materials and devices used in the adaptations, have been also coordinated by Czech Blind United. At present, the organization is trying to reasonably incorporate the system into building and other regulations for new constructions and building adaptations. Additional adjustments of existing buildings and services are another priority for our user organizations in their initiatives towards local authorities and businesses.

Our organization has been active in this field for a long time through a team of blind people with developed independent living skills, experienced mobility instructors and construction and transportation experts. One of the most difficult problems was finding manufacturers of necessary materials and devices. First, we had to overcome their mistrust of the problem in general, then we had to persuade them that this is a potentially profitable field of business. We succeeded in doing both, and -as a result- even such a small market as the one in the Czech Republic now offers a reasonable variety of paving suitable to be used in all adaptations for the blind that have so far occurred.

However, there was an even more difficult task: amending the legislation in the fields of construction and transport. It was necessary to closely cooperate with other client organizations - associations of people with physical or hearing impairments, with organizations of the deaf-blind, and most of all with roof organizations of the disability movement in the Czech Republic. Moreover, we are happy to say that we succeeded in involving the Czech Government Board for People with Disabilities.



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2. Tactile adaptations

Tactile pavement adaptations in pedestrian areas are the basis of the comprehensive system. They include signal and warning strips, artificial guiding lines, tactile strips on cycling tracks, residential or pedestrian zones, or guiding strips on pedestrian crossings.

A signal strip is a tactile strip across the whole width of a pavement, which is detectable by cane or by foot. It informs about the proximity of a pedestrian crossing, a public transport stop, or an entrance to an important building. The surface has to provide good tactile contrast for cane or foot compared to the surrounding pavement. The width of 80 to 100 cm guarantees that the signal strip will not be stepped over and missed by a blind walker. Wider strips are not advisable, for their ability to show the desirable direction deteriorates or vanishes altogether. The strip has to be positioned in a way that would provide guidance from and to the natural guiding line. This is especially important for safety reasons when the strip leads to a pedestrian crossing.

Warning strips mark the border between a safe and a dangerous zone, such as between the pavement and the road. Its width of 40 cm ensures that it will not be mistaken with a signal strip, although same paving materials are used for both. Where possible, signal and warning strips are done in a contrastive colour compared to the surrounding pavement.

An artificial guiding line in the form of parallel notches in the paving can be used on underground and railway platforms.

A tactile strip divides by touch and colour pedestrian and cycling lanes. Mostly it is used in towns.

A pedestrian crossing guiding strip is a part of road marking. It consists of tactile shallow notches, which go across the whole pedestrian crossing as a part of the "zebra" marking and connect to signal strips on the pavements. A pedestrian crossing guiding strip is especially important on long, oblique, or bent crossings or at crossings with difficult orientation.

The location of these elements complies with clear rules based on the principles of the mobility of the blind.



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3. Acoustic orientation and information devices

Our experience shows that acoustic elements can be used very efficiently. They are user friendly, flexible and cheap.

Acoustic signals at pedestrian crossings are important not just because they facilitate orientation (they inform where the crossing is), and provide status information („walk", „don't walk"), but above all they enhance overall safety. This is why we have also dealt with the situation when two or more acoustic crossing poles are located close to each other, and it is impossible to distinguish their respective acoustic signals. The increased noise level of permanently working acoustic signals does not have to become an inconvenience for the surrounding either. There are other ways than to simply switch off its permanent working, which is so important for blind users. The parameters of the emitted signal can be adjusted to a suitable level, or the signal can be remotely activated by the blind person only when needed.

Remotely activated sound beacons proved unexpectedly efficient. These beacons mark points of reference by a defined sound, which can be accompanied by a voice announcement. Under points of reference we understand entrances to buildings, underpasses, shops, etc. The beacons can be integrated to form a comprehensive navigation systems on large premises, such as railway stations.

The selected approach where a point of reference -which the blind person is seeking and expecting- plays a defined trill sound upon activation by the blind user's transmitter proved to be very efficient in practice. The user value of the sound beacons is enhanced by the possibility to add one or more voice announcements to the trill sound. We found that sound beacons can effectively be used on a wide range of installations.

Another leap forward in improving transport accessibility was marked by installing acoustic devices into public transport vehicles. These devices are remotely activated by the abovementioned transmitter and produce a voice phrase identifying the bus or tram number and destination to the blind user standing on the platform. Semi-automatically, without any remote activation, they inform all passengers on board about the current and next stops.

And now a look into the near future : The present state of technology allows the electronic information devices at large railway and bus stations to be easily equipped in a way, that would provide information not only in the standard visual mode, but also in a suitable structure through voice output upon activation by the transmitter. Today, it is only a question of a unified system of administrative measures that would ensure that people with a visual impairment and their specific orientation and information problems are taken seriously.

There is a single standardized remote control transmitter for all the functions described above, which can be used anywhere on the territory of the Czech Republic. The transmitter has six buttons for six commands, which accommodate all the abovementioned functions and even provide spare buttons for further development of acoustic orientation and information devices.

Today, the state of things is :

Acoustic signals at pedestrian crossings started to be implemented in 1992 as an additional adaptation. Since 1994 it has been defined as obligatory for new constructions and building adaptations. There are no precise numbers, but over 60% of pedestrian traffic lights in the Czech Republic now also have an acoustic signal. Following the initiative of our local Chapters, additional traffic lights are being equipped according to local needs. The device is cheap and mostly technically undemanding.

Tactile paving on pedestrian areas and roads has been implemented since about 1994. The building regulations were rather general at that time, which led our organization to launch a public awareness campaign aimed at professional public, such as the civil servants approving constructions, designers, investors and building companies. We tried to make the sense of such adaptations clear to avoid incorrect installations. The campaign was supported by publishing technical texts in this field. We learnt an interesting thing: very rarely we were approached with a question "Why?" However, it was appreciated that we were able to give a professional answer to the building companies when they asked "How?"

The building regulation was amended and improved in 2001, which made it more precise and easier to comply with. Since there is quite a lot of building going on in the towns in the Czech Republic, there are so many signal and warning strips, tactile strips, and pedestrian crossing guiding strips on the roads, and so many artificial guiding lines on railway stations and in the Metro, that they are becoming an every day reality and are in common use.

Remote controlled sound beacons are a compulsory piece of equipment in given public buildings and other constructions listed in the 2001 regulation. They have been in use in adequate quality only since 1994. Yet there are over 3000 of them installed as an additional adaptation on various buildings. 200 hundred beacons are installed in the 53 stations of Prague metro alone.

The acoustic device in the vehicles of public transport is not required by any regulation. It is admittedly more expensive and technically more demanding. However, it has become a matter of prestige for many municipalities. The result is that more than 3500 vehicles (buses, trams, trolley buses) in larger towns and cities have been equipped by now. 8 cities have equipped 100% of their fleets. 5 other continue to equip their buses and trams, and a few others are planning to include this in their future budgets.



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4. Conclusion and recommendations

The experience from the massive implementation of such adjustments in the Czech Republic shows that all the abovementioned and other measures enhancing the independence and safety of people with serious visual impairment on the street and in transport will become really effective only if their significance is placed on the same level as the significance of adaptations for people with serious physical impairment, if they are mandatory for all new constructions and building adaptations of public places, and if funding is found also for additional adaptations. Only massive and general implementation of these adaptations will ensure the declared objective : self-reliance and safety, hence independence, hence human dignity.

Therefore we suggest following to be incorporated in the conclusions of this conference :

1) Legislation in Europe should provide for newly constructed public areas and buildings to be accessible for persons with limited mobility and orientation (including people with severe sensory impairment).

2) A system of measures for accessibility adjustments of the environment should be standardized within the EU member states, so that the adjustments are -from the user's point of view- same throughout the EU. This is especially important in the case of the adjustments for the blind.

3) To ensure in technical regulations that not just physical, mechanical, and technical but also user characteristics of materials and devices used for such adjustments are subject to approval procedures.



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