Pedestrians perceptions of community walking with anti-slip devices - An explorative case study

The risk of falls on slippery surfaces during wintertime is a public safety problem in the Nordic region in the Arctic. The aim of this case study was to explore pedestrians perceptions of walking safety, balance, slipping risk, priority for own use and subjective criteria for a well functioning anti-slip device. An experimental set-up was utilised in which nine pedestrians tested 19 anti-slip devices by simulating walking in realistic traffic situations on four different surfaces. The pedestrians favoured devices with a high number of friction points, distributed under the whole sole (in-built) or forefoot (sandpaper). Also, a whole-foot device with a high number of spikes received high ratings in all aspects measured except in balance enabling properties. Identified subjective criteria were safe foothold, comfort, enabling a normal gait, stability, silence, and predictability. The results indicate that both anti-slip properties and balance enabling properties of the device need to be considered for safe community walking.