One of my favourite patterns in London is the thickly painted green line on the floor that goes all the way from the tube station to the front door of Moorfields eye hospital to help partially sighted people find their way to their appointments!
It's also a thick enough layer of paint to be tactile, so blind people who are using a white cane can feel the raised bump and follow that. Or that's how it's supposed to be, but over the years the paint has worn down and a small patch of pavement has been resurfaced, so some parts of the line are gone and not possible to follow. Lucy Edwards made a youtube Short about it. It's a shame that such a good idea hasn't had the attention and maintenance it needs to continue working properly.
Apologies to anyone who's easily annoyed by mismatched patterns, because once you're primed to notice how often contractors get this stuff wrong, you'll see it everywhere...
As a German, I always have to switch to a different mindset when coming to London. The cars drive in the other direction, and as a pedestrian, you cross the road when the lights are red, not green. Or whenever the hell you want. Especially when a policeman is watching. In Germany on the other hand, you always stop on red, even if it's the middle of the night and there are no cars around for miles. That's because an invisible child might be hiding in the bushes, watching you be a bad example.
seriously. i crossed the street on red a few days back, late at night, no cars (or children to be a bad example to) in sight. absolutely zero traffic of any kind, like 28 days later. still, a guy waiting outside this Döner place across the street looked at me like i just used his firstborn child for a kickoff. 25k tiny town in germany
Slight tangent, but a friend of mine saw some hooligans fighting in Denmark and after they'd thrown a few punches and wanted to get away before the police arrived they all ran for a little while but then stopped at the edge of the road until they got a green to walk, before they ran away further.
These have probably saved the lives of fully sighted people as well. We so often are looking down at our phones as we walk along, having this visual and tactile clue that you're about to walk into a street has almost certainly stopped people from walking into traffic even without being consciously aware of the meaning of the patterns.
They've almost ended lives of sighted people. When they're wet from the rain, even anti slip shoes slip on them. I don't know of anyone who's stopped because "oh, studs", but I know of plenty who've almost slid out into the street. If that's the case for sighted people, I wonder how many blind people have already died from them.
@@darrylkinslow5613, I've not had that issue in the States. The ones I've encountered in our cities are coated with a non-skid paint which has a sand-like texture.
But, they aren't saving the species, then. If sighted people are too stupid to look up from their phones, we would be better off letting Darwinism take care of them.
Tom, you are an example to the rest of the world (i.e. the Internet ;-) of how to present this sort of segment. You succeed in holding the watcher's interest, and putting across the ideas in a way that doesn't bore people to death in a few seconds, but without needing to resort to flashy gimmicks. Often the presenter's ego gets in the way of the message, but I think you pitch it just perfectly. 10 out of 10.
I’m partially blind and I think It’s great that they’d do something like that for their streets. Where I’m from we have nothing. However the fact that they’re choosing to change the color of these dots to the normal concrete color is very inconsiderate. They put aesthetics over needs .its a shame.
I am sighted and think it's ridiculous too, it's only "aesthetic" because they're not used to something else. Roadways and traffic are functional, they don't complain about five lanes of traffic not being aesthetic.
Sometimes they use substandard paints that rub off or fade in sunlight. so some of them may have yellow, white or red paint on them - the question is - why are they not cast in colour or painted before they are installed like logic would suggest makes more sense. Though if the pedestrianised area is red brick like surface another red surface isn't much use to anyone really so in that situation perhaps white or yellow makes more sense.
Tom you missed the opportunity to explain considerations for deaf blind people. On the underside of the box with the crossing request button there is often a serrated knob. When the crossing visual and audible alerts are signaled, the knob rotates to provide tactile feedback for those unable to see and hear. It must take a great deal of nerve and trust to cross in such circumstances ! Another good adaptation which you'll see in Singapore. The crossing request boxes have a Senior Citizen card RFID reader enabling those who need a little extra time to cross to activate an extended time feature for the crossing.
I am one of the unlucky ones, Partially Sighted and have Arthritis. Those raised markings kill my feet, but are great for me crossing the road, etc. No win situation.
I'm sorry to hear that hopefully the future technology will be able to aid in your needs I already know that we can use Cameras to Detect Walls so that may be used to help detect things in the future making almost zero need of those tiles someday
@dylan murphy That might be a difficult, if not outright impossible, balance to strike. After all, if they weren't somewhat rigid, you wouldn't be able to easily feel them.
Maybe you should be the arbiter as to how much tactile paving to use. Enough so that you find your way but not enough to feel like hell on every street!
1:34 I love the way the drains incorporate the tactile surface but whoever lifted them last didn't put them back in the right order... British workers at their best...
Its obvious its not supposed to be that way, but the cant even be bothered to turn the drain cover around before putting it in. Minimum wage, minimum effort I guess.
@@2MeterLP Those who do a lousy job get paid just as much as someone who actually cares to do a good job. After all, you're at work, to work. and nothing else.
@@kevinnelson6070 True, but when it's minimum wage it's only gonna be lousy workers Seriously, I've seen it happen so much. Given enough time on minimum wage, even the most enthusiastic and smart workers just give up, cause if they do a trash job it pays just as well, and who can blame them
@@MCDMarsgodihatehandles Ideally, we would have robots that do all the menial, repetitive jobs considered undesirable by humans, but we're not there yet. I get it when it comes to things like fast food or retail or whatever, but when it comes to city infrastructure i think it may be wise to keep who does what in circulation so people don't carry on with their trashy jobs long enough to give up. And the smartest will definitely be able to get another job or progress through.
I'm a transportation engr in the US, and I've been intrigued by this for so long! I'm glad to understand it more even in another country and hope it helps communicating the importance of it to contractors moving forward 😊 thanks for the video!
oh my goodness finally an explanation! I was at the train station looking at these dots like what is this? a sad strip of foot grip?? this makes SO much more sense!
The point of this video wasnt that they were for blind people, but that there were different patterns. If you didnt know they were for blind people youre straight up dumb as hell
Screw the aesthetics of it and keep it bright like how it's supposed to be!. Who cares if it doesn't "blend in" (so silly people are). If it helps people (and especially people with disabilitys) be more safe then what's the problem!?. So what it stands out well that's supposed to be the point. Not fair I say.
Actually people in the UK haven't realised that in fact bright colours are aesthetically pleasing, after living in the Netherlands for 10 years, the UK looks grey and shabby to me.
@@jourdainjardin846 Lots of asian countries have it. In Japan they even had it inside the fire station we visited. In some countries it's only in the more popular places and sometimes it just randomly pops up, but well they tried🤷🏻♀️
We have some of those in Colchester too. They put a load of expensive flagstones on the high street, and obviously didn't want to spoil the look with the standard tactile paving.
I remember seeing this a couple years ago and thinking that it was great to see someone enthusiastically talking about this. Then during Rona I stumbled across Tom's channel. I just now realised that what I had seen all those years ago was one of Tom's Videos. Thank you Tom Scott, you are an inspiration.
I've recently become disabled and there's so much useful stuff out there that I have no idea about. How are we supposed to know these things? When you become disabled no-one gives you a pack explaining things (though they probably should) and if you're born disabled you don't just have intrinsic knowledge of what different bumps mean 😂
Just submitted Norwegian subtitles... I got so much more respect for those who do that kind of work now. "Its only a 3 minute long video, it can't take THAT long"... one hour later ... :p strangest things is, you know what it mean, you know how you would describe it, but you don't remember the correct words. And yes, I know some sentences has to be rebuilt to make sense in other languages, and I did, but still.
Fibonacci sequence involves addition, proving that the Midtownskyport guy somehow anticipated your comment that was to come hours later. How did he do it? We may never know.
pillsnotbills ok i think i get what you mean. Some dude predicted that it would be likey that some one mentions that sequence. Im not an expert but i believe everytime anyone has sincerely debated patterns to derive any meaning from it, that sequence is identified. I guess the same is true when you talk about any aspect of science. You can fundamentally predict the subject matters that will arise during the debate for any given topics of the unknown until its known. Pi(unknown) is always considered on anything round. Newton for anything gravity(mostly understood but not on the molecular level) So forth so on? Do you agree or disagree about my take on your feedback. If im wrong i hope i deserve to be corrected.
Epic-Elite Dynamics I truly do not deserve such credit. The dude that predicted it is the one who originally replied. That one character speaks volumes. Had he replied with a "/" we might be speaking of a geometric series. Honestly a "^" would have been so much more interesting. Think of the possibilities! The mind reels.
@@britishgamer666 The spinning pegs are used in addition to the audible signals. The two main reasons are: 1) You might be unable to hear the beeping due to traffic noise. 2) You might be unable to tell WHICH crossing the beeping is for.
@@markyp2532 Actually it is for blind people Deaf people can see the lights Blind people can't and there may be more than one set of lights beeping near by
I found out about this about a year ago (though my sister in law), anyway I was showing my kids this at a crossing what it was for, and there must have been 5 other people there all at the same time. None of them including my kids knew it was there/or what it was for, quite cool to teach 7 other people "something they didn't yesterday that they now know today"
Yeah, that was terrible to see. To be fair, though, he is probably paid minimum wage and has unrealistic goals set in by a moron who never lifted one of these covers to "optimize personnel/workhour load" or other such tripe translating to "we pay you too much already, you need a cut so I can get a bonus" so can't fail workers but the system above them...
omd! yes! I thought I was the only one. its super annoying them. you have to get off your board every time you approach it. I have had a ball fall from one of these
Lived here (england) my whole life and never realised what these were! I always assumed that the texture was to provide better grip to help avoid slipping at a crossing or at the top of a staircase. Interesting to know, thanks!
Same, because I know that actually is a thing. So I usually just assumed other such patterns were an extension of that in ways I didn't always understand.
I will definitely leave once I am done with what brought me here. I hope your miserable xenophobic life will improve by leaps and bounds once one less desirable human has left.
Billy Philip Rwoth Hey Billy, don’t judge us by some of the idiots who get on youtube. I hope you enjoy your stay in the UK and leave with a better opinion of us than you have gained so far by listening to the stupid remark(s) of a lowlife minority.
@@salus1231 Haha have you read all the virtue signalling snowsflakes coming out to ease their "white guilt"?........What has this world become?.....Deal with your childlike emotions kids! Cheers for been a level headed guy!
Thank you, Tom, for saying "unknown" rather than a more clickbaity adjective. And thank you for continuing to make videos that are informative and provide a public service, even though you're now a big-time youtube star :^)
Great video, especially the part about places now going for stuff that blends in. As a partially sighted person, this is a huge annoyance, and often a hazard, to me. Prime example is bollards, street lamps, signs and traffic light poles. More and more they use new, sleek, grey or silver ones which (depending on the lighting) can completely blend in with the road, footpath or grass. Have lost count of the amount of times I've cracked my nuts on the top of a bollard at this point! It's a delicate balance though I guess. Balancing the aesthetics of a place for the majority of people going about their daily business versus the functionality for a minority of people who may have difficulties.
thanks Tom was wondering what type of ramp I should build for my mother who has arthritis and this video helped me clear the confusion whether to go for ridges or flat slope design
Me: *opens the 108 page document, flicks through it briefly* Me: "Eh, I think I'll trust Tom on this one. I don't have time for a months worth of legal reading..."
When I was a kid my rollerblades got caught up in the textured pavement & I fell and injured myself. I was quite irritated that they put bumps on the sidewalk until someone told me what they were for.
At 1:31 the chap is talking about confusion and you show a shot of where tactile paving on a manhole cover that’s been incorrectly inserted. Excellent 👌
Also in Britain, there are some traffic buttons which under it, have a device which turns whenever it is safe to cross. This is really helpful since I'm partially sighted and I'm finding it more and more everyday
Most of the time they don't work because they have been disabled for some reason or other. It screws up the computer that controls the lights. ( change one signal and it affects hundreds of others.)
Hang on, they don’t have these everywhere? I assumed this was a thing every city had! I suppose I should’ve noticed when I went abroad, but I’ve never noticed it missing as these are just part of life to me.
Some cities don't even have traffic lights why would they have tactile paving? In the Soviet Union it was cheaper to convince blind people to stay at home than spend millions altering the country.
they spent £27m doing my street , new paths , parking bays , nice yellow bricks etc tarmac with white flecks , then moved and replaced all the lamp posts after all the new paths were laid , but phone phone company came and lifted the access points where half is tarmac and half brick and put them back exactly like that ! i`m sure they did it on purpose
@@marcushull12 it baffles me. They must do! Even if I'm doing a job I dislike or it's 5 o'clock on a Friday, I'll never drop my attention to detail. This is why humans will never reach utopia.
2:53 who else shat themselves thinking the light was green and that van was just about to flatten Tom. Would’ve been a good end if they could have edited it well tho
I must say that with the new youtube red stripes that tell you how far you have watched a certain video, the red stripes on your video are sometimes a bit confusing
Have you filed a complaint with UA-cam? Because we all know who was first ;) Furthermore: why would any Tom Scott video be interrupted half way? they are THAT good ;)
I am close to one almost all the time ;) And I do watch on mobile sometimes, but on WiFi. if I am on the move I am on a bicycle, so I am not watching videos any way. That would be pro level UA-cam watching.
Demonetized videos don't appear as recommendations outside the "from your subscriptions" category. And there's only so many videos not demonetized (yet). If you never clicked a "prank" video even less. So to fill the recommendation list the youtube algorithm sometimes pulls unrelated videos as well.
Under the traffic lights, when the light turns red, if you are deaf or blind, there is a small rotating stick beneath the box that spins when it is safe to cross.
@@jamiebrowne5720 Thinking more really about the guys riding bikes super fast, they never stop for a red light, a good reason to still look Right in the UK.
Wow as a cyclist I always wondered why those 2 stripes were there, I’m really impressed that so much goes on for the blind/partially sighted we are not aware of 👍🏻
Ditto. Asfik we only have the "stripes" on platform and in front of stairs etc. I thought it was for grip and wheelchairs.. (With the winter, snow, ice, sleet in Norway) (whoa.. English..)
Jori Diculous These tactile surfaces are often more difficult for people who use wheelchairs to wheel on as they cause lots of vibration. That's why there is a short lead up to the crossing to be useful for blind and partially sighted people but not too difficult for other pedestrians using mobility devices.
Doesn't really matter in this case. UA-cam compression means that even a 1080p panel will benefit very significantly in watching 4K or 1440p UA-cam streams. The stream quality is realistically just a bitrate change. As a result, 1080p isn't a perfect 1080p rendition of the video, and assuming that the 4k version has a bitrate about 4 times higher, you'll see a fairly drastic improvement. It's notable that the difference between 720p->1080p is roughly equal to the difference from 1080p->4k on a 1080p panel at a reasonable viewing distance.
My teacher in HS showed us one of your videos and I tried to find your channel, but I couldn't. Today, 5 years later, yt recommended me this video! I didn't know it was you by looking at a thumbnail, but I recognized your voice, yay! 😁
It's because some worker has lifted those manhole covers to gain access underneath and then put them back wrong, either without realising or just because they thought it would be funny
@@Oli-Johnson everyone always thinks "oh, the worker's an idiot and didn't put the cover on correctly." I bet that a lot of the time, the worker is thinking "oh boy, I'm going to make a bunch of pedantic people really mad!"
Years tripping over the stuff next to the tube and S-Bahn/U-Bahn and wondering why those annoying patterns were there... Now I know and I'm happier. Thanks!
Crooklar the same way some councils were allowed to clad tower blocks in materials that weren't fit for purpose. If there's a rule they will find a way to get around it for a cheaper option
same reason people get away with not having wheelchair ramps on their buildings: the rules aren't enforced enough, and people with money don't care enough
I am visually impaired, yet, I never knew of the different patterns. I new about Tactile paving meant there was a road there. But thankfully I have enough vision I don’t really need to think about how exactly it’s paved out. Very interesting.
Never knew this. For some reason I thought it was just for grip in wet conditions. Sod aesthetics in this instance. How much time, effort and money was spent creating these textures to help the visually impaired, only for them to be cut up and dulled. An excellent system fallen by the wayside. Great work composing the Starsky and Hutch theme btw.
What i notice when I go over all of these is its blooming uncomfortable (In my wheelchair - vibrates through my feet and hurts a lot). I've not got arthritis as such but great that you mention this. Awesome!
I’ve often noticed the different designs of paving but, I never gave a thought as to why it was there in till your video. Of course, it’s to help the partially sighted, like a kind of pavement level brail.
I thought they were there for non-slip in rain? as a skateboarder they used to annoy me as riding over them jarred my fillings :) .. but now I know the application and will look out for them . informative video
I don't think it's a world standard, just more of, "wow, these are brilliant, we can accommodate the disabled simply and cheaply and they won't get run over."
2:54
genuinely thought he was gonna get hit by that van to prove his point
"Ali Ali Ali!.... For fox sake! Fucken ell!"
That's dedication!
Terry Betts HAHAHA
You druggo
I thought exactly the same hahaha!!!
My day wasn't a total waste. I've learnt something . Thanks
Me too, never had any idea at all, makes perfect sense now :-)
Same
my coronavirus mood
Not everything one learns is important or useful
@@Sofia-nc1tu this guy watches rick and morty
One of my favourite patterns in London is the thickly painted green line on the floor that goes all the way from the tube station to the front door of Moorfields eye hospital to help partially sighted people find their way to their appointments!
That's cool. 😄
It's also a thick enough layer of paint to be tactile, so blind people who are using a white cane can feel the raised bump and follow that. Or that's how it's supposed to be, but over the years the paint has worn down and a small patch of pavement has been resurfaced, so some parts of the line are gone and not possible to follow. Lucy Edwards made a youtube Short about it. It's a shame that such a good idea hasn't had the attention and maintenance it needs to continue working properly.
"When there are tons of metal flying past you" *walks in front of moving van without looking*
It was a green pedestrian light
@@HELLO7657 TRU
Everyone just shut up... It’s safe he’s fine there is people around like his camera crew and the light was green for him
FWUTIG 77 pray tell why are you angry
Carsten Rogge that was *the point, not a joke, there’s nothing funny
Apologies to anyone who's easily annoyed by mismatched patterns, because once you're primed to notice how often contractors get this stuff wrong, you'll see it everywhere...
What kind of camera was used for the recording? The quality is amazing!
Nadeox1 he uses a iPhone 4s
Incredible!! This was a brilliant video Tom thanks :)
Nadeox1 I'm guessing that since the DoP was Tomek Jas, it was a Sony A7S being used
It might be one of several. His iphone, a GoPro Hero 5 or whatever camera the camera operator (tomek) had
As a German, I always have to switch to a different mindset when coming to London. The cars drive in the other direction, and as a pedestrian, you cross the road when the lights are red, not green. Or whenever the hell you want. Especially when a policeman is watching. In Germany on the other hand, you always stop on red, even if it's the middle of the night and there are no cars around for miles. That's because an invisible child might be hiding in the bushes, watching you be a bad example.
London makes up it's own rules about driving! We are more civilised in other parts of the country.
seriously. i crossed the street on red a few days back, late at night, no cars (or children to be a bad example to) in sight. absolutely zero traffic of any kind, like 28 days later. still, a guy waiting outside this Döner place across the street looked at me like i just used his firstborn child for a kickoff. 25k tiny town in germany
George Alderson huh?
Slight tangent, but a friend of mine saw some hooligans fighting in Denmark and after they'd thrown a few punches and wanted to get away before the police arrived they all ran for a little while but then stopped at the edge of the road until they got a green to walk, before they ran away further.
@@Matt_Alaric thats so backwards 😂
It's like you just feel inclined to listen to Tom and it’s so easy to follow along. I'm glad Tom decided to become an educator.
Right
You need to disappear and stop stalking me.
I thought you meant Tom and Jerry
Why are you everywhere?
This short thread is hilarious 🤣
it needs a good powerwashing
that's what I was thinking😂
its Britain for ya
Blind people dont care about that
its outdoors tho so
why would u powerwash the street
These have probably saved the lives of fully sighted people as well. We so often are looking down at our phones as we walk along, having this visual and tactile clue that you're about to walk into a street has almost certainly stopped people from walking into traffic even without being consciously aware of the meaning of the patterns.
They've almost ended lives of sighted people. When they're wet from the rain, even anti slip shoes slip on them. I don't know of anyone who's stopped because "oh, studs", but I know of plenty who've almost slid out into the street. If that's the case for sighted people, I wonder how many blind people have already died from them.
@@darrylkinslow5613, I've not had that issue in the States. The ones I've encountered in our cities are coated with a non-skid paint which has a sand-like texture.
@@darrylkinslow5613 I've never slipped on these?
@@darrylkinslow5613 I've certainly associated it with a crossing, and I've also never found them to be slippery in the rain
But, they aren't saving the species, then. If sighted people are too stupid to look up from their phones, we would be better off letting Darwinism take care of them.
I've just learnt more stuff in a 2 min video than any shite that they put on tv over the course of a year . Thank you great vid
Jamie Collins depends on the channels you watch, which says a lot about you
@@Kale-Man it was a joke about how bad tv was . Not once did I say I watch tv myself 🧐🧐🧐🤔🤔🤔
Also try and watch the history guy....so interesting!
Jamie Collins you obviously dont know the good channels on tv. Like How It’s Made. Nice emojis
Actually this is about the same as what you learn watching TV in a day
Tom, you are an example to the rest of the world (i.e. the Internet ;-) of how to present this sort of segment. You succeed in holding the watcher's interest, and putting across the ideas in a way that doesn't bore people to death in a few seconds, but without needing to resort to flashy gimmicks. Often the presenter's ego gets in the way of the message, but I think you pitch it just perfectly. 10 out of 10.
therealdebater No 10 minute video to explain something that takes 2.
@@evaahh9584 That's their point? Others might take 10 minutes, but clearly it only takes 3.
This is a wholesome channel that just wants to spread knowledge, fantastic
while your down on your knees mate can i have one too.
well said👍
I’m partially blind and I think It’s great that they’d do something like that for their streets. Where I’m from we have nothing. However the fact that they’re choosing to change the color of these dots to the normal concrete color is very inconsiderate. They put aesthetics over needs .its a shame.
I am sighted and think it's ridiculous too, it's only "aesthetic" because they're not used to something else. Roadways and traffic are functional, they don't complain about five lanes of traffic not being aesthetic.
@@schoo9256 I mean, many people do complain about large roads being an eyesore
Personally I find the pops of color that these surfaces offer compared to the gray backdrops to be very visually appealing
@@flugelchannel237 pops of color? Just makes them look more dirty over time.
Theres no aesthetic to begin with, mong
“Ah well it’s supposed to be red” : welcome to Britain, when things aren’t done right but it doesn’t matter
This applies to Romania too
So true
*Insert joke about Brexit here*
Sometimes they use substandard paints that rub off or fade in sunlight. so some of them may have yellow, white or red paint on them - the question is - why are they not cast in colour or painted before they are installed like logic would suggest makes more sense. Though if the pedestrianised area is red brick like surface another red surface isn't much use to anyone really so in that situation perhaps white or yellow makes more sense.
America's same model
Tom you missed the opportunity to explain considerations for deaf blind people. On the underside of the box with the crossing request button there is often a serrated knob. When the crossing visual and audible alerts are signaled, the knob rotates to provide tactile feedback for those unable to see and hear. It must take a great deal of nerve and trust to cross in such circumstances ! Another good adaptation which you'll see in Singapore. The crossing request boxes have a Senior Citizen card RFID reader enabling those who need a little extra time to cross to activate an extended time feature for the crossing.
But you don't know about the other button on the post do you !!
@@bertiewooster3326 Which one is that ?
So that's what it's for..
@@henryyoung7184 the one in the middle that vibrates (well at least in Australia)
Tom already covered those knobs 3 years before this video.
I am one of the unlucky ones, Partially Sighted and have Arthritis. Those raised markings kill my feet, but are great for me crossing the road, etc. No win situation.
I'm sorry to hear that hopefully the future technology will be able to aid in your needs I already know that we can use Cameras to Detect Walls so that may be used to help detect things in the future making almost zero need of those tiles someday
@dylan murphy I personally never complained about the tiles so I didn't see the problem with the hardness of the tiles
@Hi Hi I never said that I was talking about arthritis
@dylan murphy That might be a difficult, if not outright impossible, balance to strike. After all, if they weren't somewhat rigid, you wouldn't be able to easily feel them.
Maybe you should be the arbiter as to how much tactile paving to use. Enough so that you find your way but not enough to feel like hell on every street!
i get a feeling one day we'll get a video from tom of him on the ISS
12 minutes, 18 likes.
I highly doubt the video on ISIS.
Nayan Lad I assumed he meant international space station
23 minutes,
1300 likes, 5 downvotes.
Be optimistic Nayan.
Nayan Lad ISS, not ISIS
Why not both?
1:34 I love the way the drains incorporate the tactile surface but whoever lifted them last didn't put them back in the right order... British workers at their best...
Its obvious its not supposed to be that way, but the cant even be bothered to turn the drain cover around before putting it in. Minimum wage, minimum effort I guess.
@@2MeterLP Those who do a lousy job get paid just as much as someone who actually cares to do a good job. After all, you're at work, to work. and nothing else.
lolindirlink People who do a lousy job shouldn’t be allowed to keep their job.
@@kevinnelson6070 True, but when it's minimum wage it's only gonna be lousy workers
Seriously, I've seen it happen so much. Given enough time on minimum wage, even the most enthusiastic and smart workers just give up, cause if they do a trash job it pays just as well, and who can blame them
@@MCDMarsgodihatehandles Ideally, we would have robots that do all the menial, repetitive jobs considered undesirable by humans, but we're not there yet. I get it when it comes to things like fast food or retail or whatever, but when it comes to city infrastructure i think it may be wise to keep who does what in circulation so people don't carry on with their trashy jobs long enough to give up. And the smartest will definitely be able to get another job or progress through.
I'm a transportation engr in the US, and I've been intrigued by this for so long! I'm glad to understand it more even in another country and hope it helps communicating the importance of it to contractors moving forward 😊 thanks for the video!
oh my goodness finally an explanation! I was at the train station looking at these dots like what is this? a sad strip of foot grip?? this makes SO much more sense!
Ever heard of common knowledge?
So you’ve gone your whole life and never knew what they were there for, common sense jeez
The point of this video wasnt that they were for blind people, but that there were different patterns. If you didnt know they were for blind people youre straight up dumb as hell
K
@@vtaqz4809In my country these patterns appeared only 5 or so years ago. And it was kind of confusing
I have to say, "Guidance on the use of tactile paving surfaces" sounds like a gripping read.
And a great name for a Math Core band :D
LepLaz grate. Getit.
Wow. I really can't type today!
some people have trouble getting traction on technical documents. :P
Sample Textᴴᴰ Feel for me. I work in transport planning!
I find it fascinating to learn how much detail goes into designing cities!
neither blind nor partially sighted, but i found this utterly fascinating - and all this time I never knew - thanks for the knowledge.
Same
Screw the aesthetics of it and keep it bright like how it's supposed to be!. Who cares if it doesn't "blend in" (so silly people are).
If it helps people (and especially people with disabilitys) be more safe then what's the problem!?. So what it stands out well that's supposed to be the point.
Not fair I say.
Still ugly though and I’ve never seen it anywhere else in the world
Actually people in the UK haven't realised that in fact bright colours are aesthetically pleasing, after living in the Netherlands for 10 years, the UK looks grey and shabby to me.
@@jourdainjardin846 Lots of asian countries have it. In Japan they even had it inside the fire station we visited. In some countries it's only in the more popular places and sometimes it just randomly pops up, but well they tried🤷🏻♀️
Agreed, how selfish of the privileged to just disregard the needs of disabled people because it "doesn't look nice"
My country has them and most cities in Europe I've been to also has them
Interesting and informative as always. Glad the RNIB spokesman didn't get wiped out by the left-turning bus at 0:37.
In Glasgow we have metal studs at crossings so it becomes very slippery when wet, which is all the time.
Always helpful
@@Ethan_and_Astra extremely helpful
I went to Glasgow once and it didn't rain. I think it was in 2003 about this time of year.
@G1zm0 abizmo Glasgow isn't a city
We have some of those in Colchester too. They put a load of expensive flagstones on the high street, and obviously didn't want to spoil the look with the standard tactile paving.
Thumbnail looks like you're going to drop the hottest mix tape of 2017.
I remember seeing this a couple years ago and thinking that it was great to see someone enthusiastically talking about this. Then during Rona I stumbled across Tom's channel. I just now realised that what I had seen all those years ago was one of Tom's Videos.
Thank you Tom Scott, you are an inspiration.
I’m visually impaired and had no idea that different patterns were a thing on those little patches of bumps. How interesting!
I've recently become disabled and there's so much useful stuff out there that I have no idea about. How are we supposed to know these things? When you become disabled no-one gives you a pack explaining things (though they probably should) and if you're born disabled you don't just have intrinsic knowledge of what different bumps mean 😂
Same.
@@hamsterpouches there probably is an association that does that but isn't very good or diligent about marketing and/or raising awareness about it.
You can't be that visually impaired then.
not a very good blind person then are you
Just submitted Norwegian subtitles... I got so much more respect for those who do that kind of work now.
"Its only a 3 minute long video, it can't take THAT long"... one hour later ... :p strangest things is, you know what it mean, you know how you would describe it, but you don't remember the correct words.
And yes, I know some sentences has to be rebuilt to make sense in other languages, and I did, but still.
Great job
You are appreciated. Thank you.
Tom is the person who makes even the pedestrian crossing an interesting one.
Tom mentioned there were some questions about camera gear; to anyone interested, shot with a Sony A7Sii, Sony 24-70GM f2.8, audio Sennheiser G3
Which is why it looks and sounds a bit better than my usual GoPro and SmartLav+ mic :)
I thought the visual and audio quality were pretty good this time - makes sense!
A bit? It's pretty noticeable to me - big improvement!
Was about to ask this question, thanks @tomek, nice style and your personal channel.
LINAS JUSTICE Aciu, very kind of you to say!
Seeing Tom Scott stand up and cross the street is the most exciting thing that's happened to me all day. Just like Jason Bourne.
I knew these were a thing, but I didn't think the patterns themselves had a specific meaning.
+
PinkThornVlogs fibonacci sequence will blow your mind.
Fibonacci sequence involves addition, proving that the Midtownskyport guy somehow anticipated your comment that was to come hours later. How did he do it? We may never know.
pillsnotbills ok i think i get what you mean. Some dude predicted that it would be likey that some one mentions that sequence. Im not an expert but i believe everytime anyone has sincerely debated patterns to derive any meaning from it, that sequence is identified.
I guess the same is true when you talk about any aspect of science. You can fundamentally predict the subject matters that will arise during the debate for any given topics of the unknown until its known. Pi(unknown) is always considered on anything round. Newton for anything gravity(mostly understood but not on the molecular level) So forth so on? Do you agree or disagree about my take on your feedback. If im wrong i hope i deserve to be corrected.
Epic-Elite Dynamics I truly do not deserve such credit. The dude that predicted it is the one who originally replied. That one character speaks volumes. Had he replied with a "/" we might be speaking of a geometric series. Honestly a "^" would have been so much more interesting. Think of the possibilities! The mind reels.
You should have felt under the pelican crossing buttons box for the peg that turns so blind/deaf people can tell it's safe to cross
Malcolm Lugg they have beeps for that now i think.
@@britishgamer666 yes and they still have them aswell they have it for deaf and blind people because yes those people exist
@@britishgamer666 The spinning pegs are used in addition to the audible signals. The two main reasons are:
1) You might be unable to hear the beeping due to traffic noise.
2) You might be unable to tell WHICH crossing the beeping is for.
@@britishgamer666 Some places not allowed beeps as it annoys the neighbours.
The Irish have a good system a vibrating pad.
Discovered your channel via a random "suggested" while looking at other things. Amazing! Thanks.
I'm so grateful for my eyesight. Thank you god. I hope blind people will be rewarded for their struggles.
Amen
Why doesn't god make them not blind?
we dont know
Evolution, nature and your parents gave you your eyes.
@@willt3791 it's a test for them. They will appreciate life more and get a better life after death
now tell people about the secret under the crossing button box
frombrum that’s for deaf people.
@@markyp2532
Actually it is for blind people
Deaf people can see the lights
Blind people can't and there may be more than one set of lights beeping near by
I found out about this about a year ago (though my sister in law), anyway I was showing my kids this at a crossing what it was for, and there must have been 5 other people there all at the same time. None of them including my kids knew it was there/or what it was for, quite cool to teach 7 other people "something they didn't yesterday that they now know today"
frombrum what about the beeping on the lights, I thought that was for blind people
@@LankyBhoy it is but what if there are two sets of lights across a dual carriageway for example which one is beeping
50/50 splat
This video got randomly reccomended 4 year later and I hope it will for millions of others youtube viewers too! This stuff is important 👏
I want to know what workman decides 'i know what - let's place this back the wrong way' like at 1:30 - 1:34
Yeah, that was terrible to see. To be fair, though, he is probably paid minimum wage and has unrealistic goals set in by a moron who never lifted one of these covers to "optimize personnel/workhour load" or other such tripe translating to "we pay you too much already, you need a cut so I can get a bonus" so can't fail workers but the system above them...
As a skater, I always assumed these things' only purpose was to prevent me from having too much fun.
I genuinely thought it was government infrastructure to stop me skating too fast on busy pavements
>skater
>selfish
because you really had to point that out like we couldn't tell already.
omd! yes! I thought I was the only one. its super annoying them. you have to get off your board every time you approach it. I have had a ball fall from one of these
Wow self absorbed much?
@@spongmongler6760 ok boomer, go back to the '80s when anyone cared about dogging on skateboarders 🙄
Lived here (england) my whole life and never realised what these were!
I always assumed that the texture was to provide better grip to help avoid slipping at a crossing or at the top of a staircase.
Interesting to know, thanks!
Same, because I know that actually is a thing. So I usually just assumed other such patterns were an extension of that in ways I didn't always understand.
Wow! Been in the UK for close to a year but never even thought about the reasoning behind these markings! You Brits are special 🙂
Maybe its time you went back?
@@sheilashitesteigen334 maybe its time you stop being a xenophobic dickhead.
I will definitely leave once I am done with what brought me here. I hope your miserable xenophobic life will improve by leaps and bounds once one less desirable human has left.
Billy Philip Rwoth Hey Billy, don’t judge us by some of the idiots who get on youtube. I hope you enjoy your stay in the UK and leave with a better opinion of us than you have gained so far by listening to the stupid remark(s) of a lowlife minority.
@@salus1231 Haha have you read all the virtue signalling snowsflakes coming out to ease their "white guilt"?........What has this world become?.....Deal with your childlike emotions kids!
Cheers for been a level headed guy!
Thank you, Tom, for saying "unknown" rather than a more clickbaity adjective. And thank you for continuing to make videos that are informative and provide a public service, even though you're now a big-time youtube star :^)
You'll NEVER Guess What These Patterns on British Streets Are! [GONE WRONG]
Sometimes I see youtube reccomend one of the few old videos I havent seen yet. Always a treat.
Great video, especially the part about places now going for stuff that blends in. As a partially sighted person, this is a huge annoyance, and often a hazard, to me.
Prime example is bollards, street lamps, signs and traffic light poles. More and more they use new, sleek, grey or silver ones which (depending on the lighting) can completely blend in with the road, footpath or grass. Have lost count of the amount of times I've cracked my nuts on the top of a bollard at this point!
It's a delicate balance though I guess. Balancing the aesthetics of a place for the majority of people going about their daily business versus the functionality for a minority of people who may have difficulties.
Christ almighty, I thought that van was going to hit you...
Same here, and just after he was talking about fast metal boxes
Watching the edit, I thought that too. At the time, I didn't even notice it, which says how long I've been in London...
Tom Scott glad I'm not the only one to notice
Same here.. it read so obviously I really thought it was a setup for a joke/gag/tension-moment.
I thought you used a trick shot/double take to make it look like he was going to hit you, to hit the message home!
thanks Tom was wondering what type of ramp I should build for my mother who has arthritis and this video helped me clear the confusion whether to go for ridges or flat slope design
Me: *opens the 108 page document, flicks through it briefly*
Me: "Eh, I think I'll trust Tom on this one. I don't have time for a months worth of legal reading..."
2.5 years later this is still the best visual quality video on the channel
When I was a kid my rollerblades got caught up in the textured pavement & I fell and injured myself. I was quite irritated that they put bumps on the sidewalk until someone told me what they were for.
I don't think I can get enough of those videos. Please never stop doing them Tom :D
iPhone users across the U.K. also benefit
Ok
I guess he’s referring to the users being on their phones and not concentrating on where they are walking.
Especially when they are walking into blind people
Ha ha agreed👍👍
Boomer detected
At 1:31 the chap is talking about confusion and you show a shot of where tactile paving on a manhole cover that’s been incorrectly inserted. Excellent 👌
Also in Britain, there are some traffic buttons which under it, have a device which turns whenever it is safe to cross. This is really helpful since I'm partially sighted and I'm finding it more and more everyday
I thought when you spin it it slows the traffic lights down?!?! FFS 😂😂
Oh....that's what they're for. Nice one.
@@jamesfzj2495 just think for a minute about what you've said. How on earth would that work?
Most of the time they don't work because they have been disabled for some reason or other. It screws up the computer that controls the lights. ( change one signal and it affects hundreds of others.)
in germany we also have those buttons but they just vibrate
Hang on, they don’t have these everywhere? I assumed this was a thing every city had! I suppose I should’ve noticed when I went abroad, but I’ve never noticed it missing as these are just part of life to me.
Some cities don't even have traffic lights why would they have tactile paving? In the Soviet Union it was cheaper to convince blind people to stay at home than spend millions altering the country.
Dude same. I originally thought everywhere had them since Australians (where I'm from) literally have them everywhere but I guess not.
Tesco car park is not a separate country!
I've got them all around my city
theyve got these in madrid ive noticed, same rules as the ones in britain as well!
1:20 It's satisfying to see someone takes less pride in their work than me.
The council can provide such a service.
they spent £27m doing my street , new paths , parking bays , nice yellow bricks etc tarmac with white flecks , then moved and replaced all the lamp posts after all the new paths were laid , but phone phone company came and lifted the access points where half is tarmac and half brick and put them back exactly like that ! i`m sure they did it on purpose
@@marcushull12 it baffles me. They must do! Even if I'm doing a job I dislike or it's 5 o'clock on a Friday, I'll never drop my attention to detail. This is why humans will never reach utopia.
2:53 who else shat themselves thinking the light was green and that van was just about to flatten Tom. Would’ve been a good end if they could have edited it well tho
I must say that with the new youtube red stripes that tell you how far you have watched a certain video, the red stripes on your video are sometimes a bit confusing
Have you filed a complaint with UA-cam? Because we all know who was first ;)
Furthermore: why would any Tom Scott video be interrupted half way? they are THAT good ;)
Wouter Weggelaar Not so much my mobile internet
Ah, that makes a load of sense! Watching on PC here ;)
Wouter Weggelaar You must have the patience of a saint to be able to wait until you can reach one ;)
I am close to one almost all the time ;)
And I do watch on mobile sometimes, but on WiFi. if I am on the move I am on a bicycle, so I am not watching videos any way. That would be pro level UA-cam watching.
Great video with amazing sound quality and clarity! Well done!
Welcome to a new episode of.........
Why is this in my recommended 👍🏻
Bradley Wright why not?
*R2D2 beeping agressively* Because I have absolutely no interest in this nor have I watched anything like it. But I still clicked
UA-cam wants you to watch it, recommendations is not by choice, it's what UA-cam wants you to do. So don't cry.
Demonetized videos don't appear as recommendations outside the "from your subscriptions" category.
And there's only so many videos not demonetized (yet).
If you never clicked a "prank" video even less.
So to fill the recommendation list the youtube algorithm sometimes pulls unrelated videos as well.
Same. I went to UK
These tactile pavements actually originated from Japan, which were commonly known locally as "tenji blocks".
Why is this recommended to me and why do I love this guy’s voice
If you like nice people I recommend checking out his stuff.
Welcome to the amazing world of Tom Scott videos, enjoy the enlightening and wholesome stay! 💚
Tokyo had these everywhere when I went and they seemed to have done an extremely good job of it.
glasgow city center really messed it up, they just put in brass studs on crossing locations. slippery when wet
@@Agvazela_Vega i ived in the east end
@@Agvazela_Vega lived in London, Portsmouth and Glasgow. Would rather live in Glasgow than the other 2
"I'm slippery when wet, and I'm a mother of two"
Under the traffic lights, when the light turns red, if you are deaf or blind, there is a small rotating stick beneath the box that spins when it is safe to cross.
Still a good idea mate to look right when crossing the road even if the traffic-light shows its safe to cross.
Or left
O RLY? Well if a car is coming at you when you’re stepping onto a road it’ll be coming from the right
Look left too just in case a dumb yank is driving on the wrong side of the road.
@@jamiebrowne5720 Thinking more really about the guys riding bikes super fast, they never stop for a red light, a good reason to still look Right in the UK.
Ken Lompart was I talking to you, dipshit. This video is about the uk
Wow - an eye opener for me. Sharing across my social media right now. Thank you.
Wow as a cyclist I always wondered why those 2 stripes were there, I’m really impressed that so much goes on for the blind/partially sighted we are not aware of 👍🏻
I always thought they were for easier grip on the path, this is quite interesting.
Ditto. Asfik we only have the "stripes" on platform and in front of stairs etc. I thought it was for grip and wheelchairs.. (With the winter, snow, ice, sleet in Norway)
(whoa.. English..)
Same here. I thought they were for our winter weather conditions in the Midwestern United States.
Jori Diculous These tactile surfaces are often more difficult for people who use wheelchairs to wheel on as they cause lots of vibration. That's why there is a short lead up to the crossing to be useful for blind and partially sighted people but not too difficult for other pedestrians using mobility devices.
I’ve never ever seen anyone so passionate about paths in my life! Thanks for forcing me to watch this UA-cam !
I thought I was listening to a BBC reporter for a minute😂
Nah, there was no 'despite Brexit'
This radiates heavy daytime BBC news energy
This is fascinating. Though I'm deeply concerned that muted colors will lead to needless death and injury.
WisMicYal11 they can always feel them if it’s not bright enough
Eagerly await end of video so I can Google “tactile paving design document” only to hear Tom has kindly put a link to it.
👍🏽
We have them in NZ as well.
Very good device for blind people
In Australia too
Nobody cares about NZ
@@frankclarke4240 nobody cares about britan.
Thats why all your coloniys stuck thier fingerscup at you
@@jadekayak01 nobody cares about anything these days so stfu
Tom looking super crispy in 1440p today 👌🏼
u have a 1440p panel?
Doesn't really matter in this case. UA-cam compression means that even a 1080p panel will benefit very significantly in watching 4K or 1440p UA-cam streams.
The stream quality is realistically just a bitrate change. As a result, 1080p isn't a perfect 1080p rendition of the video, and assuming that the 4k version has a bitrate about 4 times higher, you'll see a fairly drastic improvement.
It's notable that the difference between 720p->1080p is roughly equal to the difference from 1080p->4k on a 1080p panel at a reasonable viewing distance.
My teacher in HS showed us one of your videos and I tried to find your channel, but I couldn't. Today, 5 years later, yt recommended me this video! I didn't know it was you by looking at a thumbnail, but I recognized your voice, yay! 😁
1:30 why is it so common that those tiles are placed wrong? It looks so goofy!
Ik right.
Because local councils outsource the work to contractors, and most of them are useless.
It's because some worker has lifted those manhole covers to gain access underneath and then put them back wrong, either without realising or just because they thought it would be funny
@@Oli-Johnson everyone always thinks "oh, the worker's an idiot and didn't put the cover on correctly."
I bet that a lot of the time, the worker is thinking "oh boy, I'm going to make a bunch of pedantic people really mad!"
my heart goes out to these people
Years tripping over the stuff next to the tube and S-Bahn/U-Bahn and wondering why those annoying patterns were there... Now I know and I'm happier. Thanks!
So if there are standards.... how are councils allowed to get away with using a more grey colour?
To paraphrase a certain captain: "they're more like guidelines than actual rules".
Crooklar the same way some councils were allowed to clad tower blocks in materials that weren't fit for purpose. If there's a rule they will find a way to get around it for a cheaper option
same reason people get away with not having wheelchair ramps on their buildings: the rules aren't enforced enough, and people with money don't care enough
As a German I have to say these little things are great in the UK.
This is what I would call great engineering.
We have them too though
I enjoy these types of mini Info docs 👍🏻 great job
Mismatched pattern ? Yeah, that's why I always have a crowbar on me.
If I had a tool for lifting covers, I would go round town putting them back correctly.
Peter Smyth For lifting covers you want "manhole keys." Available from hardware shops for less than £10.
Dr Freeman?
+Ihrbekommtmeinen Richtigennamennicht
Don't tell anyone about it.
Rise and shine
I am visually impaired, yet, I never knew of the different patterns. I new about Tactile paving meant there was a road there. But thankfully I have enough vision I don’t really need to think about how exactly it’s paved out. Very interesting.
same here
Nice to finally know what these mean. Very helpful and hope they keep them in place.
Never knew this. For some reason I thought it was just for grip in wet conditions. Sod aesthetics in this instance. How much time, effort and money was spent creating these textures to help the visually impaired, only for them to be cut up and dulled. An excellent system fallen by the wayside.
Great work composing the Starsky and Hutch theme btw.
When you find a mad stair set for skateboarding then you find these at the top and bottom, it’s heartbreaking
What i notice when I go over all of these is its blooming uncomfortable (In my wheelchair - vibrates through my feet and hurts a lot). I've not got arthritis as such but great that you mention this. Awesome!
Only knew a small part of this, interesting to know how much planning is involved in street layouts
Alternative Title: Tom Scott carefully inspects a pavement
"that could run you over"
Tom, your humor is impeccable.
Also this camera video quality is gorgeous!
I’ve often noticed the different designs of paving but, I never gave a thought as to why it was there in till your video. Of course, it’s to help the partially sighted, like a kind of pavement level brail.
They're called Tenji blocks. Tenji is "dot characters" in Japanese and so Tenji blocks are "braille blocks".
and yes, I am now going to read the design document because yea.
Tom knows what his audience wants to do in their free time...
I thought they were there for non-slip in rain? as a skateboarder they used to annoy me as riding over them jarred my fillings :) .. but now I know the application and will look out for them . informative video
I actually knew about these. We have the same thing in cities here in Texas.
GuyNamedSean Yes. These seem to be pretty common
The same infrastructure standards in different countries isn't as common as you might think
Yeah there's probably a world standard, I've also seen these in France and Germany (albeit they are more often red than yellow).
Here in Illinois as well - they're kind of terra-cotta colored here.
I don't think it's a world standard, just more of, "wow, these are brilliant, we can accommodate the disabled simply and cheaply and they won't get run over."
0:15 that is the most british voice I have ever heard
This was waaayyyy more informative than I thought it would be, so thank you....... Knowledge is power!!
Lived here my whole life and didn't even notice
2:54 I thought he was going to get hit by the white van.
Peter R damn Daniel back it again with a white vans
Shafwan Dito 😂