An Empirical Study of User Evaluation on Road Crossing Support Tool for the Visually Impaired Based on Experiment on Real Road

Abstract

The visually impaired who have to perform the task of crossing the road without visual information are being supported by guidance blocks for the visually impaired, acoustic traffic lights, etc. There are some cases where it cannot be used. The reliability of the step at the sidewalk-roadway boundary, which serves as a clue to determine the direction of crossing, varies depending on the crossing. In this paper, we conducted a walking experiment with the visually impaired at the station plaza in Tokyo where "orientation blocks", which have been proposed as a new road crossing support tool. We considered subjective evaluation from the user's perspective. As a result, the effectiveness and usefulness of the direction orientation block in a series of crossing actions was confirmed in terms of ease of direction orientation, confidence level, and peace of mind while walking.