Barrier Free

Aging of society and road users
Japanese society is aging faster than in any other country on earth. In 1995, 14.5% of the Japanese were elderly people of 65 or more, that is a far higher rate than in other industrialized countries. It is predicted that in 2015, Japan's elderly will form 26.0% of its population, signaling the arrival of the aged society where one person in four is elderly (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research). As they age, elderly people suffer a decline in their walking ability and their physical strength and their eyesight weakens. As a result, they are likely to trip on differences in level and uneven sections of roads and have difficulty walking in narrow spaces. And in light of the spread of the concept of normalization, pedestrian space where wheelchair users and visually impaired people can use easily is desired. New space provision and other policies that include guaranteeing adequately wide pedestrian space, reducing level differences and slopes, smoothing road surfaces, and making crosswalks safer are required in order that all pedestrians including elderly and disabled people can use roads safely.
Past and Predicted Change in the Elderly Share of the Total Population (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research)
Accessible and Usable Transportation Law
The Accessible and Usable Transportation Law came into force in November 2000 to promote measures to allow the elderly, disabled people, pregnant women, and other groups of people to travel by public transportation more conveniently and safely. Full name of the Law is "law to promote the smooth movement of elderly and disabled people using public transportation services," and its goal is to promote the removal of barriers concerning movement from public pedestrian spaces through the following measures. Removing barriers in railway stations, bus terminals, passenger ship terminals, airport terminals, or in railway trains, busses, passenger ships, airplanes etc. In specified districts centered around railway stations and other transportation facilities, promoting the priority and integrated removal of barriers in passenger transport facilities, surrounding roads, plazas in front of railway stations, at signal lights etc. based on fundamental concepts prepared by municipal governments.
Removing barriers from pedestrian spaces
It is difficult for elderly people and disabled people to walk where the sidewalk or other pedestrian space is discontinuous or where the pedestrian space is narrow. Resolving the problems they face becomes a first step to remove barriers from pedestrian space. 　The following is a list of key points in the actual barrier removal process. Planning and constructing pedestrian space that is continuously widened. Guaranteeing space with a width that elderly and disabled people can walk through without anxiety. 3. Reducing the degree of slopes and appropriately altering differences in level so that elderly and disabled people can cross them without difficulty. Locating facilities appropriately so that pedestrians can walk without tiring or losing their way.
Research by the Advanced Road Design and Safety Division
1.Sidewalk height 　It has been assumed that if sidewalks are one step higher than traffic lanes, pedestrians feel safer using them. But raising them one step causes differences in level and sloping surfaces on sidewalks. The Division carried out experiments on the height of sidewalks (curb height and sidewalk surface height) with the participation of 35 pedestrians. (The participants reported their feelings of danger on the sidewalk as automobiles passed in the traffic lanes.) 　The figure shows the participants' evaluations of the degree of danger they felt during the experiment (Note: under sidewalk category, 10-10 means that the curb was 10 cm high and the sidewalk surface was also 10 cm high. The vertical axis represents the percentage that reported "no problems".) The results reveal two facts: 1) The wider the sidewalk, the better the pedestrians' evaluations and 2) there is little relation between the pedestrians' evaluations and sidewalk category. We concluded that to remove barriers from future sidewalks, they should be wide but their surfaces should not be high.
Sidewalk used for the experiment	Experiment in progress
Pedestrians’ Evaluations (Automobiles Traveling at 60 km/h)
2.Sloping road surfaces Slopes on sidewalks cause problems for elderly people and wheelchair users trying to use them. The Division performed an experiment to study slopes on sidewalks and how easily wheelchair users can travel on them with the participation of 33 wheelchair users (The participants reported their feelings of danger as they rode their wheelchairs on 5 slopes: 2%,4%, 6%, 8%, and 10%). The results have shown that on a slope in the direction wheelchair users are traveling (longitudinal slope), they can travel up the slope without feeling hampered or in danger up to a grade of about 6%, although the slope slows their progress a little. On a slope at right angles to the direction wheelchair users are traveling (lateral slope), they can travel across slopes up to about 4%. When road structure standards were revised, these results were referred to as basic experimental data.