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Have you heard of 'shared surfaces'? It's the name given to increasing moves by urban planners to make town centres into areas where pedestrians and cars share the same area. No one has right of way, which forces pedestrians, motorists and other road users to make eye contact in order to judge when it's safe to proceed. It was an idea born in mainland Europe, where it was thought that removing traffic lights, pavements and signage would create social spaces and reduce the build-up of traffic.

However, the concept has proved unpopular with certain disabled groups, particularly blind and partially sighted people. With no kerbs to give an obvious delineation between road and pavement, they can often feel extremely unsafe. You can read more about the 'shared surface' schemes, and disabled people's concerns, in from October last year.

Work is being done to address these worries though, and that's where you could come in.

is the beautifully-named acronym for the Pedestrian Accessibility and Movement Environment Laboratory, part of the Accessibility Research Group at University of London. They're currently carrying out research towards an accessible design for 'shared surfaces', and are doing a further series of tests later this month (exact dates yet to be confirmed), so they're looking for disabled people who might like to be involved.

The laboratory is based in the Tufnell Park area of North London. Participants will receive £20 for up to 90 minutes of their time, and some help with travel expenses - up to £20 worth - may also be available if you enquire further.

To find out more, give Kim Morgan from University College London a call on 020 7679 7962, or email pamela@transport.ucl.ac.uk. Tell 'em Ouch! sent you.