Abstract
To expand their sphere of dairy activities and fully participate in main stream life, the visually impaired need rapid mass transit just like normally sighted. Unfortunately, visually impaired persons who attempt to use railways alone encounter a variety of difficulties and dangers. To date, many serious accidents have been reported, including visually impaired persons falling from train platforms. We have studied many cases of such accidents. In the present study, we analyzed falls from train platforms in relation to fundamental characteristics of the orientation and mobility of the visually impaired persons, as well as environmental factors. From these results, we propose some ideas to prevent such accidents, including environmental modifications and human assistance.
