E-scooters and electric bikes – sometimes used at high speeds and without safety precautions – are creating a new ‘menace’ for blind and partially sighted people. The micromobility trend is making streets an inhospitable ‘nightmare’, with only one in ten blind people confident walking in their own neighbourhood.
Most blind and partially sighted people (92 per cent) said that they have to walk into the road to avoid collisions with cars, bikes and e-scooters obstructing pavements. Over a third of blind and partially sighted people have collided with street obstacles, says a new report.
New Research from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has revealed the many obstacles which can deter blind and partially sighted people from walking around safely and confidently.
People with sight loss fed into a new report from RNIB describing how walking in their own community has become exhausting, more difficult – and now dangerous – due to the increasing street obstructions they face. The many dockless bikes and e-scooters left strewn across the pavement have added to existing issues with 45 per cent reporting mental health issues due to them.
The new research by the leading sight loss organisation – based on a survey of nearly 1,200 blind and partially sighted people across the UK – identified the top five barriers to accessing streets experienced in the three months prior to the survey to be:
- 82 per cent said cars or other vehicles parked on pavement
- 71 per cent said poor quality of pavement (uneven, cracked, potholes)
- 56 per cent said temporary/moveable street obstacles (A-boards, bikes / e-scooters, bin bags, etc)
- 52 per cent said space where a path or pavement is shared with cyclists or e-scooter riders
- 44 per cent said lack of accessible pedestrian crossings
The impact of these obstacles on people surveyed showed:
- 92 per cent have had to walk into the road due to street obstacles.
- Only 9 per cent strongly agree they feel safe making independent walking journeys in their neighbourhood.
- 81 per cent said bikes or e-scooters left on pavements make their journeys harder
- One third (34 per cent) have collided with a street obstacle in the last three months with one in ten (11 per cent) of those requiring hospital treatment making up 3 per cent of all people surveyed
- 45 per cent report mental health issues (e.g. anxiety, stress) due to street obstructions.
- 61 per cent of blind and partially sighted people say they cannot make all the journeys they want or need to.
- 73 per cent said there are roads in their area too unsafe to cross due to lack of accessible pedestrian crossings.
- 70 per cent avoid paths shared with cyclists or e-scooters.
RNIB’s new report In My Way: Navigating pedestrian journeys with sight loss, details the factors that are making it more difficult for blind and partially sighted people to walk around independently. The report pinpoints the practical steps that the UK Government, devolved administrations and local authorities should and can take to make getting around more accessible and inclusive for all.
RNIB campaigns to make the street environment safe and accessible for blind and partially sighted people so that they can make the journeys they want and need to.
Erik Matthies, RNIB’s Policy Lead for travel and transport, who has sight loss, said,
“It’s getting harder for blind and partially sighted people to walk and wheel independently due to more and more obstacles on the streets. I’m always having to double check or think about how I am going to get around by foot. This is tiring and takes up more time. It makes me feel unsafe too. Only one in ten people with sight loss in our survey said they felt safe walking alone near their own home. That’s not on.
“E-scooters and dockless bikes left on pavements have added to the issues with cars being parked on pavements and advertising boards strewn all over as they always have been. The accumulation of all these trip hazards mean blind and partially sighted people are having to walk on the road just to avoid a collision. Imagine not hearing a bike or e-scooter going past you at speed or knowing they are just lying there. Nearly half of people reported mental health issues stemming from these types of issues.
“One respondent described how their guide dog had to be withdrawn due to the increased stresses and now relies on just their cane. Another cited said how anxious they had become of getting injured now.
“Decision makers need to step up and play their part in making the streets work for everyone. Local Authorities need tomaintain pavements during roadworks. They also need to better monitor food delivery courier cyclists, and where powers are devolved and hire schemes exist – regulate hire bikes and e-scooters.
“A UK wide law against pavement parking needs to be brought in and then enforced as a priority.”
RNIB is calling on the UK Government work with disabled people and street environment professionals to create inclusive standards that can be robustly enforced, so all pedestrians can get around in a safe and accessible way.
