Walk around any UK town or city today and you will see tactile surfaces.

They are there to help visually impaired people to know about potential hazards and amenities, and when they are used correctly they can be a real help, but often the wrong tactile surface is used, or the surface is not sufficiently colour contrasted to be of use.

You can find guidance on tactitle surfaces at the department of Transport website here >>>

 

Opposite is a picture of a tactile surface at a crossing outside a college.

Tactile surfaces are now very common to denote a crossing.

At controlled crossings (ie with lights, zebra crossings etc) the tactile surface should be red, at non-contolled crossings like this one, the tactile surface should be buff or another colour that contrasts with it's surrounds.

The one on the left is well colour contrasted, but it is the wrong kind of tactile surface.

Crossings should have blister tactile paving like this:

Whereas this crossing uses lozenge tactile paving.

 

Lozenge tactile paving should be used as a warning to denote an on-street platfrom for light rapid transport - things like the Metro, a tram system etc.

 

The other most common tactile surface is the corduroy hazard surface at the top and bottom of a flight of steps.

The photo on the right shows tactile paving at the top and bottom of steps, but it is the wrong tactile paving (and the wrong colour) - on the right the controlled crossing blister paving is wrongly used.

The corduroy hazard paving is the correct tactile surface for the top and bottom of steps as shown in the photo on the left.

 

 

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