Abstract—This paper presents a design solution based on
analysis of the appropriate width of handicapped parking space
for individuals with different levels of disabilities in Saga. The
methodology followed in this study revealed an option for
increasing the available quantity of handicapped parking
within the available space by selectively reducing the width of
alighting space requirements built into space standards. A
physical simulation was carried out with assistance from
volunteers with different types of disabilities who were asked to
park in a confined space in order to obtain meaningful data for
space requirements by disabled individuals. The investigation
found that the current standard of 3.5 m width adopted for
handicapped parking is conservative and has little merit from
the point of view of functionality for handicapped individuals.
The data collected allowed the research team to develop a
methodology to propose a new arrangement for increasing the
parking spaces for disabled persons. The paper explains the
physical data collection process and details of the proposed
arrangement that could better utilize the available space.
Index Terms—Parking for disabled people, severity of
disability, width of handicapped parking, alighting space,
reconfiguration of parking space.
Weite Lu and Masaru Kiyota are with the School of Science and
Engineering, Japan (e-mail: weitelu@126.com).
Upali Vandebona is with Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of New South Wales, Australia (e-mail:
u.vandebona@unsw.edu.au).
[PDF]
Cite: Weite Lu, Upali Vandebona, and Masaru Kiyota, "Weite Lu, Upali Vandebona, and Masaru Kiyota," International Journal of Engineering and Technology vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 149-155, 2015.
