[nabs-l] Straight Talk about Vision Loss: The Blind Driver Challenge

[Jim Reed]

Hey all, 

When I read this post, I immediatly thought of the TV show "MythBusters" on the Discovery Channel. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, the whole point of the show is to scientificly and empericly test the validity of urban legends and myths.


In one episode, they tested a urban ledgend that after a night of drinking, a drunken sighted person convinced his sober(er) blind friend to drive. The blind driver was following the instructions of the sighted person. They got pulled over.

Anyhow, MythBusters tested this. They got a totally blind guy to drive on a closed course using one of the Mythbusters as a sighted guide. The pair worked so well together that they moved the experement onto the open road where the pair once again passed with flying colors. 

Then to test the other half of this legend, they had the sighted guide get drunk prior to serving as the blind driver's sighted guide. They did considerably worse on the closed course, and did not attempt the open road.


From: "Rob Lambert" <rmlambert1987 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 1:32 AM


> In case anyone is interested, this YouTube video from the NFB explains a 
> brand new interface in which the blind can actually make real life driving 
> decisions. This is a concept that is half autonomous and half human input. 
> THey also talk about this technology being used for spin-off applications. 
> This is very interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyVpLI52vWE





Homer Simpson's brain: "Use reverse psychology." 
 Homer: "Oh, that sounds too complicated." 
 Homer's brain: "Okay, don't use reverse psychology."
 Homer: "Okay, I will!"