Everyone has his own set of pet peeves and one of mine is found when entering grocery stores, retail outlets, pharmacies and restaurants.
They are called detectable warning pavers, better known as those damn yellow bumpy things. With a family of five, an overflowing grocery cart is inevitable – so one must navigate through those rattle traps with extra caution, or else groceries will certainly take a tumble.
Let’s just say that these detectable warning pavers are not very “grocery cart friendly” and over the years they have been responsible for the destruction of thousands if not millions of gallons of milk, cartons of eggs, and jars filled with pickles, salsa, and jelly.
When pushing a cart of groceries over theses truncated domes I sometimes wonder just how hard it is for someone in a wheelchair to navigate through them.
Many of us have cursed these teeth rattling mine-fields while wondering what genius thought placing them in front of a grocery store was a good idea.
But have you ever questioned exactly the purpose behind these raised bumps?
As a safety and risk management consultant who has worked with a couple of grocery store chains over the years, my very first guess was that they were designed to stop runaway grocery carts or baby strollers from rolling out into traffic. Now that would make sense, right? Then I began noticing those bumps popping up on many sidewalks that met the corner of intersections and eventually connected the dots.
It turns out that detectable warning paving was designed as a form of markers, also called truncate domes or tactical pavers. These ground surface indicators are designed to help people with a visual impairment determine the boundary between a sidewalk and a street, where there is no curb to warn them.
These detectable warnings are a distinctive surface pattern of domes detectable by cane or underfoot to alert people with vision impairments of their approach to street crossings and hazardous unprotected drop-offs near train stations. They are used to indicate the boundary between pedestrian and vehicular routes where there is a flush instead of a curbed connection.
The original tactile paving was developed by Seiichi Miyake in 1965. The paving was first introduced in a street in Okayama city, Japan, in 1967. Its use gradually spread throughout Japan and eventually around the world.
The United States picked up their use in the early 1990s, after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which originally required detectable warnings for curb ramps (that is, ramps where the curb is cut) and for the edges of railway platforms in the United States. In 2010 the ADA Design Standards were revised to leave out the requirement for detectable warnings on curb ramps precisely because they were a hazard in some cases, but government agencies and businesses unfamiliar with the change continue to install them.
In the beginning, most of the detectable warning pavers were yellow. The color has since sometimes changed to match the pavement surface.
The Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) added some formality to the use and design of these detectable warning pavers in July 2001 by adding formality in the size, design, and distance between each dome and location for these detectable warnings pavers, — spawning a new multi-million dollar industry which created hundreds, if not thousands of jobs nationwide that are still thriving today.
With the improvement the slip, trip and fall hazard from these detectable warning pavers diminished somewhat.
However because these domes are elevated they still serve as a hazard as I have seen first-hand able bodied women in high heels fall and twist an ankle and I have even witnessed my own kid catch a flip-flop on one of the raised bumps causing a skinned knee.
The greater concern is that these raised mini-domes are terribly unsafe for unstable for elderly people, especially those that walk with walkers and canes. Over the years many have lost their balance and have fallen resulting in broken hips, arms, and collar bones.
The fact is even everyday pedestrians as well as the visually impaired still find these detectable warning pavers to be controversial from a safety perspective, because the raised bumps make it very difficult for the mobility impaired. Those who use manual wheelchairs secretly complain. bu nobody wants to come across as insensitive to the visually impaired.
The issue is that people in wheelchairs need to use momentum to push themselves up and down the curb ramp but sometimes the dots are just too bumpy. The bumps could potentially stop a wheelchair dead in its tracks. For those with spinal cord injuries, these truncated domes have also been known to trigger muscle spasms.
Of course, we should provide accommodations for the needs of all people with disabilities.
This is a classic example of the law of unintended consequences. Sometimes, one solution may create another problem.
I am not an engineer by trade, but I have stayed at a few Holiday Inns and I believe that the Department of Justice which oversees the ADA laws needs to seriously consider redesigning these detectable warning pavers.
I would suggest leaving out sections of the truncated domes and construct them with wide enough gaps built into the design for wheelchairs, strollers and even my grocery cart to fit through.
This small change can make a huge difference in improving the safety of people with mobility impairments, and will help get my groceries home safely.
Be Safe My Friends
Keven Moore works in risk management services. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.
The 2010 ADA Standards specify what a detectable warning should look like, but do not require detectable warnings at curb ramps for the reasons described in this piece.
I slipped on truncated domes outside a Costco entrance and sustained a fracture knee requiring surgery. The domes were gray and slick with no traction to keep a person from slipping. What’s the point?
Love this article. So true.
I use a manual wheelchair and despise these truncated domes. I am very active, and everywhere I go, I have to deal with these. They make it very difficult and sometimes impossible (I get stuck and need help) for me to get up curb ramps. I also experience significant spasms each time, which not only embarrasses me, but has also caused me to almost fall out of my chair. Also, I hardly ever see visually impaired people out, and when I do, they’re not alone and don’t utilize them. So to serve the few, many of us are negatively impacted. And most frustrating about this is I feel more disabled and less independent when I have to deal with the domes. If I knew how, I’d love to start a movement to have these removed.
Has anybody found evidence that these things are a benefit to *anybody*? I understand their intended purpose. But after that knowledge is dispensed, everybody seems to assume that they work, and we can’t stop using them because we’ll be killing the visually impaired. Is this true? Do they save more injuries than they create? I’m skeptical at best. Once you are bound to a knee scooter, wheel chair, crutches and/or a cane, these things are a horrible hazard. Many ADA parking places are now surrounded by these things, so I’ll choose to park in a regular spot, and have to scoot further, just to avoid these devices from the devil.
I have seen the elderly have great difficulty getting through these mine-fields. I’ve seen older people try to get their shopping carts up onto the sidewalk, and have to take two or three stabs at getting just the right momentum, without falling over. Why do we hate people with mobility issues so much?
I should also mention that these things are placed in bicycle facilities as well, when those facilities are shared with pedestrians. And in high-use areas, the little nubbins get polished off after a few years, and we’re left with a bike tire contacting one impossibly small and slippery tip of a nubbin. Add rain, and application of the brakes (or turning) and down you go. I’ve seen it happen many times, and I’ve personally had my bike slip out from under me even while being attentive to the danger. There, I said it: Danger. These things are a danger to everybody, and *might* benefit a few?
I pity the visually impaired person with mobility issues. Would truncated domes be a net benefit or hazard?
Has anybody ever asked or studied if these damn things help anybody?
I am a 78 year old woman who is a heart patient with one hip replacement and one to go. My best source of
exercise is water aerobics. I broke my wrist on the truncated domes in front of my doctors office and will
miss going in the water for at least 6 weeks when the cast comes off. This can have a serious adverse effect on my health. Certainly with all the inventive people we have in the USA we can come with a better solution.
Darrell Dickey really described the issue with these bumps so very well. I believe they have made the folks who invented them and some lawyers lots of money. They are dangerous and cause more problems than they help!Has anyone started a class action suite against them?
My friends husband twisted his foot 3 weeks ago and fell fracturing his hip and tibia. He also has back problems. My 94 year old mother in law cannot negotiate curbs but can’t walk on those domes without our assistance. I’m not sure how valuable it is to have a safety feature for one segment of population while creating a safety hazard for multiple other people.
Truncated domes are more hazardous then helpful!! If you’re required to roll over them with anything on wheels that is of substantial weight, you run the risk of throwing your wheels off and teetering over. This is something that those of us who work at supermarket’s have the frustration of dealing with daily while we’re loading and unloadingi deliveries. Navigating a hand truck full of boxes that gets stuck on these embedded “pebbles” causes us to lose our ability to balance ourselves and our load which then of course topples over. A hugely frustrating and occassionally dangerous ordeal! I have NEVER seen or heard any mention of this actually benefiting the visually impaired!
Yes, these are absolutely more dangerous than helpful. I didn’t notice some domes today that were painted black. I was in a coastal town where there is always a ton of fog and moisture. I slipped and fell. I hurt my neck and shoulder and twisted my ankle. I’m in a lot of pain this evening. If I was 20-30 years older, I would be in the hospital with a broken hip or arm. These truncated dome things are ridiculous.
I never knew what these raised bumps were intended for but assumed it was to prevent one from slipping which wasn’t my experience. I slipped on one coming out of a Starbucks. I had on wedge sneakers and the wedge went in between a row of the domes causing me to lose my balance and unexpectedly lunge forward. I landed on my knees and 3 weeks later am still in a lot pain. I’ve iced and took ibuprofen but still have pain. Finally went to the doctor and found out my patella is now tilted on my right knee which took the brunt of my fall. I now have to see a knee specialist. I’m so bummed.. I was I had made an incident report when it happened. I’m afraid to see what my bills will be as a result since I have a high deductible health car plan. I’m all for making provisions for the visually impaired but this design is definitely flawed. I wish I could send my medical bills to the designer and those who mandated their installation. I trust that no one completed a DFMEA on this design.
I have had trouble with these knobs for a few years now. I took my own survey this week on FaceBook and I have had the same resposed. They are a hazard. Especially when wet. I have a three wheel walker and have to lift it up on the sidewalk then lock the brakes and pray before taking my step up. So dangerous. Even have one at the front door of my eye doctor. It took me two years to get a handicapped door in place in a public recreation facility in my hometown. I wrote a petition and gave it to the mayor. I wish I knew where to complain about this.
I wonder who profited from this god awful idea. Did they test for wheelchairs strollers carts or walkers. I think not. Aw the do gooders of our world. If they could just check how the rest of the people who are by far more in numbers than the partially blind. How can we get a forum for all the pain these idiot mounds have caused to are elderly