The Campaign

Despite the huge advancements in making visually impaired people safe in public spaces, especially urban environments have remaining dangers. In 2016, there was a fatal accident in Tokyo, in which a visually impaired passenger fell on the train tracks. In order to improve safety and create a public communication service for visually impaired people, Miyake’s design was further innovated 50 years after its initial invention. As a combination of the two existing types, a new type of tactile pavement was created, which adds an extra inner line to the dotted tile type. By using this type of tile on platforms at train stations, visually impaired people who have lost their way will be able to quickly confirm the safe side of the platform, as the inner line is always facing towards the safe side.

Creative Execution

Since the new type of tactile pavement has been installed, there have been no reported accidents of visually impaired people on the train stations that are equipped with them in the Tokyo area, meeting the objective to increase safety for visually impaired people. In order to further increase awareness of the issue and the invention, even for able-bodied people, we created an explainer video and added it to the public communication service campaign. We shared it online as well as on social media channels, hoping to start a dialogue on traffic safety for visually impaired people and increase people’s perception of dangers and what they can do to help and prevent accidents.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The new type of tactile pavement has been quickly understood and accepted by it’s users. As there have been no more accidents involving visually impaired people been recorded on train stations using the new tactile pavement type. It was reported that approximately 600 stations used by more than 10,000 people a day in JR East, West Japan, and Tokai will complete the installation of the new type within 2018, as issued by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. This way Tokyo, one of the worlds most populated urban spaces, will become much safer for visually impaired people and increase their ability to navigate their urban environment freely. Currently this evolvement is happening on a national basis, but it is expected that the same renewal will eventually happen on a global stage.

The tactile pavements are easily spotted and this way also work as a public communication service to raise awareness on the dangers that visually impaired people face. It reminds others to be considerate of visually impaired people. Furthermore, the new type is made of olefin type elastomer, making the tile sturdy but thin and easy to cut, allowing for quick installation and, if necessary, removal. This way they can even be used temporarily, for example on construction sites. The new type has also been developed so that six tiles can be pressed together as one large piece, making installation and removal even quicker than before.