Institute of Transport Studies, University of Leeds
Abstract
This project is a TRRL research contract, the aim of which is to
produce guidance on the design of pedestrian areas and footways
for elderly and disabled people. The first part of the project
was a literature review and consultation exercise, the objective
of which was to identify key impediments for investigation. The
second part of the project involved the detailed survey work on
the key impediments. This Working Paper reports upon the
development of the second part of the project and, in particular,
upon the identification of the sample of disabled people to be
used in the detailed interview and observation work.
The sample identification involved contacting some 3000 disabled
people listed in official disability registers, and 250 ablebodied
people via on-street interviews. From the disabled sample
approximately 500 people were interviewed in order to find out
more about their disability and to assess the usefulness of a
preliminary disability categorisation system; their activity
rate; problems they experience in using pedestrian areas and
footways; and their willingness to take part in further stages of
the study.
From the interviews, a sample of people in each of the revised
categories, together with samples of the elderly and the ablebodied,
were selected for an observation phase in which those
involved were observed completing a movement distance exercise,
and using different types of pedestrian facility, in central
Leeds
