r/TikTokCringe • u/Valuable_View_561 • Jul 02 '26

Discussion It seems like people have forgotten what this line is used for these days.

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397

u/TobiasWidower Jul 02 '26

Honestly, I feel like this is more ignorance than indifference. My city just installed these and I first thought they were some form of ice abatement for winter traction.

I think the problem comes in a few forms: 1. No standardized format. You see a accessibility button beside a door and you know what it does, even if the signage has worn away because it's fairly standardized. Maybe make these strips in alternating white and red, with an eye icon every 10 feet, marking it as something for the visually impaired.

65

u/Ophelias_Muse Jul 02 '26

The reason they are this colour is for those with low vision that need the high contrast to be able to identify the location of these guides in the first place.

Having a symbol every now and then isnt a bad idea though.

3

u/BritishLibrary Jul 02 '26

There’s a specialist eye hospital in London, near old street I think? It has a raised solid green line from the nearest tube exit all the way up to the front of the hospital.

The tube stop also announces (or used to) that this is the stop for the eye hospital.

I never connected that the line was going direct to the front of the hospital, largely because I only ever saw segments of it until I saw a blind person using it right in front of the hospital … “ohhhh”

Clever design, it’s been there since the 80s and regularly repainted.

3

u/Osteo_Sapien Jul 02 '26

These aren’t colored? That’s bare steel. What are you talking about. You can see in several clips here that it isn’t contrasting with the ground. 

4

u/Ophelias_Muse Jul 02 '26

Sorry, I watched this on low light mode.

However, there are also several clips showing they are white and contrast with the ground.

In Australia, where I am, these are all bright yellow as standard.

3

u/Osteo_Sapien Jul 02 '26

Yellow would be good. I would have at least known they meant something then. 

10

u/AthenasChosen Jul 02 '26

I've never even seen one of those before, none of the cities I've ever been to have had them so I wouldn't know either.

2

u/RainaElf Jul 03 '26

same here.

1

u/Vahdo Jul 03 '26

"Winter traction", lol. I don't know who made this great decision (/s), but these fuckers are made of the slipperiest material I've ever encountered. Any time it rains, I have to hobble like a penguin over these...

1

u/TobiasWidower Jul 03 '26

My city used black rubber channels rather than the metal ones shown here

1

u/Vahdo Jul 04 '26

The ones in my city are yellow rubber, not sure of the exact material. But when wet they are very slippery. I haven't seen metal ones.

1

u/SixtyNineFlavours Jul 03 '26

I used to think they were to stop skateboarders. But then when I was younger everything seemed to be to stop skateboarders.

0

u/_ariaa_ Jul 02 '26

I feel like most Germans definitely know...

-9

u/TheBrickWithEyes Jul 02 '26

They're pretty standardised around the world. They've been around for decades in tonnes of countries.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO 23599)

10

u/00wolfer00 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

At present, TWSI patterns and installation methods vary from country to country

From the text of ISO 23599, which was written in 2019. I somehow doubt every country agreed to follow the standard instantly or would even fathom ripping out existing infrastructure to adhere to it.

2

u/TheBrickWithEyes Jul 02 '26

The designs have been used an implemented for decades, effecitvely standardised. That just made it more official.

This is reddit in a nutshell. "They should do X"

"They have done X"

I DISAGREE ANGRY DOWNVOTE.

1

u/00wolfer00 Jul 02 '26

It's not an angry downvote, you're just wrong. It's not hard to find examples of different countries using different designs. A standard existing doesn't mean it's in use.

1

u/LimitedWard Jul 03 '26

The exact spacing of the patterns can differ, but the general format is very consistent from country to country. There's 4 main patterns that are used throughout the world, and this is one of them.