A comparative study of tactile paving design standards in different countries

Tactile paving is a system of textured ground surface indicators found on public environments to assist blind and visually impaired persons to distinguish locations and directions and identify potential hazardous and then to move and reach expected destinations. The design of tactile paving is different from those of many public facilities because tactile paving is mainly used by the blind or visually impaired persons. Although tactile paving has been invented for several decades and now is commonly implemented in many cities, criticism on its unsatisfactory design for its particular users as well as other people still frequently heard. One of the critical comments is the lack of a good standard for tactile paving. This paper first reviews the history and development of the tactile paving. By reviewing particular characteristics of tactile paving and needs of blind and visually impaired people, this paper discusses the importance of standard for tactile paving. This paper then compares different tactile paving design standards in several selected countries. Focusing on the factors of type, form and colour in constituting the standards of tactile paving, this paper tries to identify the problems of tactile paving in China, and then gives some suggestions and insights for consideration and further investigation.