Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Accessibility and Design for All

Volume

7

Issue

1

Publisher

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Publication Date

5-31-2017

First Page

56

Last Page

75

Abstract

To accommodate the needs of pedestrians, urban designers need to carefully consider pedestrian walking behavior in different walking environments. Detailed studies of the walking behavior of pedestrians have been conducted and used for pedestrian simulation models. A right-angle turning facility (RATF) is found in many built environments. Hence the study of pedestrians' walking behavior in RATFs is important to build pedestrian simulation models. Previous studies have failed to address the walking behavior of individuals with visual and mobility disabilities even though they comprise a significant portion of the population in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of the effect of indoor RATFs on individuals with and without disabilities. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is any difference in the length of turns in the RATFS of individuals with and without disabilities and see the effect of RATFs in the walking speed of the individual with disabilities (IWDs) and individuals without disabilities (IWODs). The results show that for RATFs, individuals with visual disabilities and those with mobility disabilities have different walking behavior from each other and from IWODs. Therefore, individuals with visual and mobility disabilities should be considered differently from individuals without disabilities in simulation models.

Download

Share

COinS