A SIXTH SENSE.

Putaruru Press, 19 January 1928, Page 7

A SIXTH SENSE.

DRIVING AT NIGHT. How is it that some motorists can steer accurately under conditions which are equivalent to being blinded ? A well-known parlour game is to blindfold one of the party and to get him, or her, to walk across the room and touch some object. About 1 in 20 can do this without difficulty ; the remaining 19 wander all over the place, showing that they have completely lost their sense of direction when deprived of the use of their eyesight (writes the London Motor). Many people who were blinded in the war can find their way about unaided, leaving their business in the City at the end of the day’s work, travelling by train or public-service vehicle, and reaching their homes in the suburbs without guidance. It is almost uncanny to watch a sightless man walk down a long street picking out his own house with unerring instinct. There can be little doubt that the blind do develop a sixth sense, which largely replaces that of sight. Animals, it is known, do possess this sixth sense, which we term “ instinct.”

And that is a possible explanation of why some motorists can drive at high speeds through dense fog. Such drivers must be able instinctively to appreciate each bend in the road, each object in their path. Less-gifted drivers will recall how, while they have been groping their way along with the aid of a feebly-visible kerb illuminated by a spotlight, they have been overtaken or passed by other drivers travelling at 30 miles per hour. Sometimes we know of somebody who can drive like that and yet never has an accident. During the war many drivers of

, vehicles had the experience of finding their way at night entirely without lights, and a good many crashes occurred in consequence, but thousands of ex-service men will recall fellow-drivers who could maintain 40 miles per hour under such conditions without difficulty. Some motorists are not able to steer accurately even with the aid of powerful headlights—they are nightblind. Others can either see or feel their way with only feeble sidelights. At night time on any of our principal main roads one can observe drivers of lorries careering along at 20 or 30 miles per hour with lights so feeble that they can do no more than indicate their presence to other traffic. Either they have the peculiar attribute usually ascribed to the feline world of being able to see in the dark or they feel, rather than see, their way by a highly-developed sixth sense. Can it be that an impression of the invisible road and the objects on it are subconsciously absorbed in certain individuals ? That is, they find their way by instinct. There are so many motorists who can drive in the dark, or through dense fog, that it would be interesting to hear from them how they do it—if they know—or to have a scientific explanation of this valuable faculty.