The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (‘Guide Dogs’) has raised safety concerns about the trend among local authorities to move away from the traditional street and pavement format in town and city centres.
The resulting ‘shared surfaces’—with road and pavement at the same level—relies on negotiating priority and movement between vehicles and pedestrians through ‘eye contact’. This puts blind and partially sighted people at an immediate disadvantage. Research has established that shared surfaces affect the safety, confidence and independence of blind and partially sighted people.
Guide Dogs believes that ‘shared surfaces’, without clearly identified pedestrian footways and controlled crossings, pose a threat to all vulnerable road users, including those with physical, sensory or cognitive impairments.
The charity is part of an alliance of organisations that has signed a statement directed at local and central government, stating that they will only support streetscape and public space developments that meet the needs of all disabled people.1 Disability organisations signed up to this statement include Arthritis Care, Mencap, Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (Radar) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), a statutory body set up to advise government, has welcomed this statement.
The statement calls upon government to do the following.
Demonstrate its commitment to social inclusion, and to meet its disability equality duty in regulations, guidance, planning policy and decisions which impact on the pedestrian environment.
Ensure that professionals involved in the design, development and monitoring of streetscape and public space schemes take into account the requirements of disabled people.
Ensure that all parties consult with disability organisations at all stages in the process of developing streets and public places.
Guide Dogs is supportive of some of the ideas behind the ‘shared space’ concept, such as streets that are attractively designed and ‘civilised’, but it is very concerned by the creation of ‘shared surfaces’ for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in the name of ‘shared space’.
‘Before and after’ surveys of a new shared surface development in New Road, Brighton were carried out with local blind and partially sighted people.2 The ‘before’ surveys were carried out in 2006 and the ‘after’ surveys in June 2007 following completion of the scheme. The ‘after’ surveys showed that blind and partially sighted people found it more difficult to navigate in the shared surface, and it affected their confidence, with most reporting they would no longer be able to use the area independently. Brighton and Hove Council has responded positively and will now consider making changes in the area.
Having identified the concerns, Guide Dogs is developing and testing potential design solutions that could fulfil the ideals of ‘shared spaces’ for pedestrian-friendly streets with low or reduced vehicle speed, without putting the lives of blind and partially sighted and other disabled people in danger. International design practice Ramboll Nyvig was commissioned to develop the designs.3 Their report advocates the creation of a ‘safe space’ within ‘shared space’ schemes, where vulnerable pedestrians would be away from vehicles, giving them confidence to use the street independently. This is in line with the guidance in the UK Government’s Manual for Streets (see section 7.2.12).4
Design proposals to identify this ‘safe space’ area were tested by blind and partially sighted people, by wheelchair users and by people with walking difficulties at the University College London pedestrian accessibility and movement environment laboratory (Pamela) facility in May. The outcome of these trials are currently being analysed and will help in the preparation of guidance for local authorities, which Guide Dogs hopes to work on in collaboration with the Department for Transport (DfT).
Guide Dogs is carrying out this research because of its concerns about shared surfaces. This does not take away the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that where it is proposed to use a new design feature or form of separation between the footway and carriageway (or shared area), other than the recognised kerb or tactile paving that has been robustly researched, the local authority should be prepared to carry out research before implementation to demonstrate clearly that its design solutions are suitable and effective. The creation of shared surface streets, where the safety of blind and partially sighted people is at risk and many feel afraid to go, is not, in Guide Dogs’s view, in keeping with the Disability Discrimination Act.
Attractive streets, improved civility, pedestrian-friendly environments, reduced dominance of motor vehicles, and minimised street clutter: these are the benefits promised by shared space advocates. The key question for those designing and developing our streets is: can these benefits not be achieved without using shared surfaces which affect the safety and independence of blind and partially sighted people and other disabled people?
