In your response to John (San Jose Ca Mercury News, July 14 2019) on safely stopping a car if the driver dies, you don’t mention the use of the emergency brake. Most cars have the emergency brake easily reachable by the right seat passenger.
Most cars DON"T have an emergency brake, they have a parking brake.
But the “parking” brake can be used to stop the car in an emergency. But only once, or maybe twice in many cases, because it’s often a small drum brake inside the rear disc, and the shoe is very thin since it’s not meant to be used much. So don’t make a habit of testing to see if the brake works.