On March 31, a race car driver who was blinded in an accident ten years ago drove a modified car all the way up to 339.64 km/h to set the Guinness World Record for “Fastest Speed for a Car Driven Blindfolded.”

Dan Parker set a world record of 322.68 km/h on the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico in his modified Corvette.

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Parker lost his vision in a racing accident on the same date ten years earlier. Furthermore, he graduated from the Louisiana Center for the Blind on the same day 7 years ago.

During the world record attempt, the racer employed an audio guidance system to assist him to operate the car, which was part of the National Federation of the Blind’s ‘Blind Driver Challenge.’ The programme seeks to draw attention to mobility restrictions and to recognise the remarkable achievements of blind individuals.

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Parker told the Las Cruces Sun News, “We have not only demonstrated that a blind person can operate a vehicle safely, but that we can do it at over two hundred miles per hour.”

We hope this success inspires blind people and shows the world the potential of modern technology like self-driving cars to help the blind break barriers in everyday mobility and beyond.”

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The first Blind Driver Challenge event took place in January 2011, when Mark Riccobono, currently president of the National Federation of the Blind, drove a customised Ford Escape hybrid over the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on his own.

Ribbono managed the track’s bends and guided the car around dynamic hazards using haptic feedback supplied by the car’s cameras, GPS, and LIDAR sensors.