Public schools never taught any sort of advanced driving. The sort of thing we're talking about is advanced driving, how to control a vehicle that is accelerating out of control. Schools taught parallel parking, 3 point turns and showed road rash videos.

And to replace public school driving skills classes, almost all states require private driving schooling, which is the exact same thing.

When I was 16 I took an advanced driving course, my Dad insisted. It was an incredible experience with skid cars and simulating all kinds of emergency situations and practicing, classroom time too. That sort of thing was never taught in schools. He was an excellent driver and wanted me to be too, I've followed that up with other courses over the years which have made me an excellent driver too. But remember, that CHP officer had all that training and way more and it didnt do him any good.

 

So just the other day I came home, parked, grabbed something out of the armrest and... dropped it between the seat and the armrest. As I was twisting over backwards trying it reach it, my leg slipped and hit the gas revving the engine almost to redline. Had I not put the car in park, I would win a darwin award - and all of these unintended acceleration cases probably happened under similar circumstances.

Quite frankly, anyone who claims unintended acceleration should have their drivers license revoked for being too stupid to drive.

 

That's what makes me more inclined to think that it was not him, but a problem in the vehicle.

 

But the investigation was closed, we know what caused his accident, the accelerator pedal was jammed in the incorrect floormat installed by the dealer.

That doesn't change the fact that he failed to put the car into neutral or to turn the car off, which absolutely would have allowed him to bring the vehicle back under control.

Sometimes, even with a ton of training people make the wrong choices in a crisis situation.

 

https://www.autonews.com/regulation-...tended-braking

 

Not really valid if you take 10 seconds to google. Plenty of cases.

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...gency-braking/

 

https://www.autonews.com/regulation-...tended-braking

 

This probably goes a little too far. This does happen, though I agree that in most cases it's driver error. But I was able to manually verify mine. The final time that my Ranger did this, I slammed on the brakes and it stopped immediately (like the test referenced above) with the engine still at WOT. Turned the truck off and back on, the pedal immediately dropped to the floor. So I shut it off, put it in neutral, and pushed it into a parking spot. Then I got out, removed the floor mat, and started it again. While I was standing outside the truck--and my parents standing next to me, as I was meeting them for dinner--we were able to watch the gas pedal sink all the way to the stop and the engine once again go to WOT. They loaned me the down payment for my replacement truck on the spot.

But again, even having experienced it myself, I still think the vast majority of cases are driver error. Hell, I thought mine was driver error too, the first time it happened. Though I'm curious if you still think my license should be revoked.

 

^^^ how old was said ford ranger.

 

It was 18 months old at the time, a 1996 I purchased new with 37 miles on the clock (half of those being my test drives). Had about 22k miles when I traded it in a month later. It was a defect with the cruise control system where it would occasionally run the throttle actuator out all the way, even when the cruise control was "off", as it was every time this occurred. That's why the pedal fell, because it no longer had the throttle linkage supporting it. You could pick it up and drop it. But turn the ignition off and it would pop right back up to its normal position. Ford refused to acknowledge it or do any warranty repairs, saying that particular defect was only present in Crown Vics up through the 1995 MY.

 

Ok, let me rephrase it - anyone who experiences unintended acceleration and isn't able to safely stop the car is too stupid to drive and should have their license revoked. Many older cars had issues with stuck floor mats and I had it happen to me several times in my old Honda - the first time I just put it in neutral and after that I would just pull the floor mat out when it would happen.

 

22K miles in less than a month? That's got to be a record or near-record.....assuming the odometer was correct. Or did you mean 2K miles?

 

Back in about 98ish I was in a car with my then girlfriend driving, and her Maxima started to accelerate and wouldn't stop as we approached a red light. She started to panic, and I actually threw her car into neutral from the passenger seat and pulled the hand brake. Back then I didn't know a thing about cars, but her father actually owned a repair shop, and she called him and he came over with one of his techs that worked on her car. It turned out the tech left some sort of a tool inside the engine compartment that jammed the throttle cable.

My point is drivers are operating heavy machines at high rates of speed, and should know what to do even if there is an unforseen mechanical fault instead of blindly blaming the car manufacturer.

 

i think he means he put 22k on in 18 months.

 

We have a winner!