The relationship between some characteristics of orientation and mobility of visually impaired travelers and falls from train platforms.

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

“…As visually impaired persons hardly get visual information, they must have and process auditory and sensory information to compensate for it. Thus, information processing overloads them 5) . In such a case, they probably fail to detect textured blocks or the edge of the platform.…”

“…When an application of measures mentioned above is difficult, voice information is desirable. But once vi-sually impaired persons fail to hear voice information, they can hardly retrieve it due to the nature of the characteristics of voice information 5) . If voice information is not offered or only once, it seems difficult for a visually impaired person to correct a misunderstanding or an illusion or a wrong conjecture.…”

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

“…The way we made them choose the purpose of using the tiles were as follows: (1) as a cue to detect stairs when walking at the platform edge parallel to the rail (at the platform edge stair), (2) to know the proximity of the stairs (at the middle of platform stair), (3) as a guide when they approach the platform edge from the stair (stair platform edge), and (4) others. Table 4 shows the number of persons who use the bar type tactile tiles for each purpose, and their ratio to the 67 persons.…”

“…In order to improve guiding systems like tactile tiles on the railway platform, we need not only analyze the cases of falling accidents from the platforms 2)3) and the current situation of laid tactile tiles, but also know how these people behave on the platforms at present. But there are few reports on this theme.…”

“…For these people, a variety of measures are taken in Japanese railways 1) . But visually impaired persons who use railways alone are confronted with a number of difficulties 2) 3) . One is moving on railway platforms.…”