AARP Hearing Center
Hybrid vehicles are so quiet they can be a hazard to pedestrians who are blind and rely on surrounding sounds to determine if it's safe to step into a street.
Photo from iStock
"In Berkeley, California, the sidewalks are completely flush with the street," notes Vinay Pimplé (pronounced Pim-Play), an attorney and member of the city council in Richmond, California. "That was probably meant to make things super easy for people in wheelchairs."
Curb ramps oriented diagonally across intersections can make street crossings more difficult for travelers with visual impairments.
Photo by James Scott Crawford/American Foundation for the Blind
- Hybrid vehicles are often so quiet that a person who is blind can't hear them coming.
- Loud trucks and cars make it hard to hear other important sounds.
- Curb cuts that lead into an intersection at a diagonal send people who can't see into the middle of traffic.
- Traffic roundabouts: Since the purpose of a roundabout is to keep vehicles moving, crossing one can be difficult to near impossible for a person with vision impairment.
- Sidewalks placed at varying distances from the street, or sidewalks that are surrounded by cement, make it hard for people with vision impairment to tell if they're still walking on the sidewalk or are actually in the street. (The best type of sidewalk, says Pimplé, is one that has grass on both sides.)
- While traffic islands are often used to help pedestrians cross roads by providing a rest area or safe zone, when a traffic island is installed without an accompanying traffic light, the traffic on either side of the island never has to stop. When the traffic is always moving, a vision impaired person can’t tell when it's safe to cross.
- Architectural or design elements that stick out from buildings at chest or face height without anything beneath for a cane to tap can have painful consequences.
- Subway entrances that have no tactile warning on the ground are a hazard that can cause a person with blindness to fall down the steps.
Without a noticeable slope or curb, a transition from the sidewalk to street may not be discernible to visually impaired travelers.
Photo by James Scott Crawford/American Foundation for the Blind
Coming Attractions
Getting There
"People with diminished or no vision and hearing aren’t disabled as much as the built environment we have now is largely disabling."
"People with diminished or no vision and hearing aren't disabled as much as the built environment we have now is largely disabling,” observes Benjamin Frost, an urban planner, attorney, director of legal and public affairs at New Hampshire Housing and the executive producer of Getting There, an upcoming documentary that explores how "blind wayfinding" can and should serve as the standard that shapes public spaces. Created by filmmaker Matt Frost (Ben's son), Getting There's core message is that a better environment for the blind is a better environment for everyone.
-Melissa Stanton
