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Detectable warnings have been required for the edge of rail platforms in the United States since 1991. Detectable warnings for pedestrian curb cuts were suspended for study in 1994, and became officially required in 2001.

Truncated domes are a unique design and have proven to be the most detectable surface.

Tactile Tile: Visually Impaired Mobility Research Breakthoughs

Tactile tile for the visually impaired can create paths that assist blind people to follow a particular route by using their shoed-feet to detect and distinguish raised patterns. Two kinds of tile are used to form a tactile guide path, pathway tiles with raised strip patterns are used to indicate the direction of travel to be taken and dome tiles with raised dot patterns are used to indicate a potential hazard or a junction. However, the contrast between these two tiles is not very great, so the users may not detect a junction or hazard.

In order to improve guiding systems like tactile tiles for the visually impaired on the railway platform, we need to know how tactile tiles are used and how these people behave on railway platforms at present. But there are few reports on this theme.

In a recent study, sixty-seven visually impaired persons who use railways alone were interviewed. The data revealed that dot type tactile tiles for visually impaired persons are used by 84% as a guide to follow when they walk parallel to the rail, although the main purpose of those tiles are to give warning of the platform edge; 76% utilize bar type tactile tiles crossing dot type tactile tiles at a right angle at the platform edge as a cue to detect stairs; and 70% walk along dot type tactile tiles on island platforms. The percentage of the people who walk along dot type tactile tiles is equal to that of those who walk along the wall side of the platforms, 33% each on opposite platforms.

A following study compared existing guide paths with a possible new design for tactile tile.  Visually impaired persons were expected to find the stimulation from pathway tiles altered to provide a higher contrast with dome tiles.  Twenty-three blind subjects participated. They negotiated an existing guide path and a new design guide path. Each path was 30.3m long, containing 10 junctions. Performance and responses of the subjects were used to evaluate the paths. The results showed that junction discrimination accuracy and time for the new design were significantly better than for the old design. The subjects also said that that new design was better.

The significance of this research is obvious. Improving the discriminability of the patterns on tactile tile for visually impaired persons may result in enhancing their mobility.  With tactile tile, visually impaired lifestyles can become more independent, and more importantly, can become safer. 

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