Personal experiences of blind road users in traffic settings: An investigation based on the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Purpose: One of the key features of independent living is having full access to a safer and comfortable transportation system. Understanding traffic experiences is critical for establishing such a system; however, these experiences have found relatively limited attention within the disability literature so far. Present study aimed to explore the traffic experiences of blind road users for the first time in the literature. Materials and methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 blind road users in Turkey. There were three female and eight male participants. The interviews were lasted around 60-65 min and transcribed verbatim. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used for data analysis. Results: IPA results revealed four superordinate themes based on prevalence as the main criterion in the decision-making process. The superordinate themes are named as Environmental Factors, Personal Preferences, Social Interactions and Positive Moments. The Environmental Factors su-perordinate theme has three subthemes as Infrastructure Factors, Vehicle Factors and Weather Factors. The Social Interactions superordinate theme has a subtheme called: People Insist On. Conclusion: It is concluded that being a blind road user is a challenging experience especially when the environment is chaotic, coercive and unfriendly. In order to improve accessibility for blind people, both physical and social systems should be improved and restored by changing the widespread attitudes, practices, policies, and culture at the end.

Automated summary

The study explored the traffic experiences of blind road users for the first time, revealing four key themes of environmental factors, personal preferences, social interactions, and positive moments based on prevalence in the decision-making process. The findings emphasize the importance of improving accessibility for blind people by addressing physical and social systems.