Falling down from the station platform or due to a shift in the height of the Braille block
This month, we found out that there was a gap in the height of the Braille blocks in the accident caused by the fall of a visually impaired woman who died at a station in Katsushika-ku, Tokyo. Disability organizations are looking for improvements as they may have caused the fall.
This month, Kiyoko Akutani (66) who lives in Arakawa Ward, who seems to have stumbled at his home at Keiseiishi Station in Katsushika Ward, fell on the railroad and was killed by a train.
As for the Braille block at the site, a linear block was added to the inside of the home along the protruding block last year, but when the Tokyo Blind Welfare Association confirmed after the accident, this addition It was found that the installed part was 3 or 4 mm higher than the part that was in the front, and there was a gap.
According to the Blind Welfare Association, visually impaired people, especially at the station platform, tend to walk sneakyly trying to carefully check the Braille blocks, so there is a risk of getting stuck by a few millimeters. For this reason, we decided to ask the railway company for improvement because it may have caused the accident.
The installation of blocks showing the inside of the platform has been a duty obligation of the railway company newly since last March, and since it is additionally installed at many stations, there is a possibility that misalignment may also occur at other stations That is.
Expert "Need to be the same height"
Professor Emeritus Ogura of Seikei University who served as a member of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's review meeting on the safety of the station said, “The block showing the inside of the home should be installed, but if there is a gap in the height, it will get caught and fall down There is also a fear, and it is necessary to take measures such as re-installing it to the same height. "