[Blindvet-talk] Coverage for Blind Driver Challenge®

[MisterAdvocate at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/30/2011 10:59:33 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
flmom2006 at gmail.com writes:

Here's an article from the Daytona Beach News journal! I  think it's very 
good. 
 
Technology helps blind driver lead lap - Racing
  
Sunday, January 30, 2011

 
 
No driver racing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona could have elicited louder  
screams from one group of fans than Mark Riccobono.  
Unknown to thousands of race fans pouring into the Speedway on Saturday  
morning, Riccobono became a hero to 400 members of the National Federation of  
the Blind. They were there from all over the country for one reason only -- 
to  witness Riccobono become the first blind driver to take the wheel in a 
solo  trip on the track.  
Several federation members compared his demonstration to the first United  
States space flight in 1961.  
"He's our Alan Shepard," said GaryWunder, editor of the Braille Monitor,  
the federation magazine. "We've been looking forward to this for a long 
time."   
For the blind, driving a car represents freedom and independence, things  
other drivers often take for granted.  
The federation challenged the nation's universities to take the challenge  
of developing non-visual technology that would allow a blind person to drive 
 independently. One team accepted, a group of students at Virginia Tech,  
working under the direction of Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and  
Mechanisms Laboratory. The equipment was placed in a Ford Escape Hybrid.  
Riccobono directs technology, research and education for the Federation's  
Jernigan Institute in Baltimore.  
To get behind the wheel, he put on gloves that send vibrating signals along 
 his fingers to tell him when to turn and sat on a cushion that vibrated 
along  his legs to tell him when to brake or accelerate. He drove the inside  
horseshoe on the track and in a tactical demonstration, dodged several boxes 
 thrown in front of his vehicle and passed a van.  
The long-term implications of the technology were simply mind-boggling for  
many cheering in the bleachers.  
"This means a lot more to us than just the driving," Wunder said. "If we  
can get all the information that's necessary to drive, what other things will 
 we be able to do?"  
"It's incredible," said Randy Phifer, of Overland Park, Kansas, a  
federation member listening to the play-by-play over the infield speakers. "I  told 
my fellow parishioners at home that I'd be back to pick them up," Phifer  
joked.  
For college student Mika Baugh of Indiana, it was "pretty neat."  
Owning and driving her own car would mean she "wouldn't have to wait for  
the bus in the freezing cold.  
"You can't even imagine what blind and sighted people will be able to do  
with this technology someday," she said.  
Sabrina Deaton, president of the Daytona Beach chapter of the federation,  
lost her ability to drive almost 11 years ago, a victim of macular  
degeneration.  
Driving was "one of the most difficult things to give up," she said. "It  
was giving up my independence."  
The ability to drive opens up opportunities for education and employment,  
she said. "And, just to be able to hop into the car and take a Sunday 
drive."   
If the research pace continues, Riccobono said the technology could be  
available for general use in just five years. Federation officials said they  
couldn't estimate how much the technology would cost.  
Riccobono said other challenges remain, especially convincing sighted  
drivers that it would be safe to share the road with blind drivers.  
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_Copyright © 2011 The Daytona Beach  News-Journal_ 
(http://www.news-journalonline.com/help/copyright.html) 
Sherri Brun, NFBF Secretary and Newsline®  Coordinator
Vice-president NFB Greater Orlando Chapter 
E-mail: _flmom2006 at gmail.com_ (mailto:flmom2006 at gmail.com) 
_www.nfbnewsline.org_ (http://www.nfbnewsline.org/)  
_http://www.nfbflorida.org_ (http://www.nfbflorida.org/) 
_http://nfbfgoc.org_ (http://nfbfgoc.org/) 
 
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other  plans." John 
Lennon