The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : These cars navigated by Braille

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 30, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

These cars navigated by Braille

Staff Reporter

56 cars take part in 67km Rally for the Blind organised by Madras Motor Sports Club

GET, SET, GO: Film actor Sonia Aggarwal flagging off the car rally for the blind in Chennai on Sunday. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI : The 56 cars that trailed along the Marina, Poonamallee High Road, Guindy and several other places for 67 km had a special feature — blind people navigated them.

This was the 14th year of the Madras Motor Sports Club Rally for the Blind, sponsored by UCAL.

Road map in Braille

The road map has directions written in Braille. The navigator reads out the instructions to the sighted driver and the team is supposed to complete the route in 160 minutes. The rally is not about speed but skill.

Tamil actor Sonia Aggarwal flagged off the first few cars that were packed to the legal capacity, with a child or two tucked away discreetly in a safe nook.

The winners were: expert category (won in the past) Sonia Muglani (driver) and Rajaratnam (navigator); regular (participated but not won) Nandagopal and Pandian; novice (first time participants) Rajesh and Ponnusamy; and ladies team Anita Srinath and Sri Manjula.

The event was organised in association with the National Association for the Blind, which provided the navigators. This is one of the 80 annual events organised by the Motor Sports Club.

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