Tauranga City Council is installing precast, slip-resistant concrete tactile pavers along Cameron Road from Harington Street to 17th Avenue as part of the requirement to provide facilities for blind and vision impaired pedestrians.

The news comes after SunLive received multiple reports of concern regarding the pavers, as previous versions have been seen as a ‘safety hazard’.

A Tauranga City Council spokesperson confirms they are not the yellow PVC dots being removed in Auckland due to safety issues, and are made of concrete.

“Earlier installation around the country sometimes used plastic that could become slippery in the rain.

“This material is no longer used, and the pavers are designed to provide the correct amount of friction, so they are not slippery.”

The spokesperson says the yellow dots are “designed to guide the pedestrian” to the crossing area and then “tell them where the edge of the road is”, so they don’t “step into the road”.

More than 600m2 of tactile pavers will be installed at road crossings and signalised pedestrian crossings along Cameron Road at a cost of about $250,000, according to the spokesperson.

“About 60 per cent of the pavers have been installed so far. The Cameron Road project team has not received any reports of people slipping on these concrete tactile pavers.”