Same as always. Mistake the accelerator for the brake. Boom.
How embarrassing.
During college summer break, when I was a (AAA) driver instructor, I had students practice panic braking. With seatbelts fastened, bothands on the steering wheel and looking straight ahead, instantly remove foot from accelerator and press brake. Repeat until second nature. Practice other times before starting engine andeparting. Wife and I continue to practice it.
In California, an older woman moving her car onto the Newport Beach ferry caused several people to jump into the water when she depressed the accelerator instead of the brake.
Thext week an elderly man hit several cars ihis apartment complex parkingarage. Went forward into a vehicle, placed in Reverse and accelerated backward into a brand new Cadillac.
Forward again into another vehicle. An apartment resident above said he thoughtheyvere having a small earthquake.)
During snowbird season here in Florida, this happened about once a month. Usually into a beauty shop. Last year’s season was a bit safer since many snowbirds stayed home after hurricance tore things up.
Hey, I take offense to the terms “elderly man” and “older woman…” The wife and I both qualify as a person who might be described by these terms and we have not had an accident in more than 4-decades (long before we could be described by the above terms… L 
L…
It wasn’t an “elderly man” or “older woman…” who put this car into the second story of a house…
We never practiced panic braking in driver training that I remember. The instructor had his brake and only used it once that I recall. My 88 year old dad claimed that he got his foot stuck under the brake but it was in a snowy parking lot and just made a few rounds before driving it into a snow bank, killing the transmission in the process. The police didn’t say much, just called me to come get him. When the kids become the parents.
Very seldom I’ve had to make a panic stop except when someone runs a stop sign in the Walmart lot. Dangerous places those are.
I took driver’s Ed in my senior year; I had already been driving for several years, had my own car and I paid my own “Assigned Risk” insurance (no accidents and no tickets to get points… Just a single teenage male was all it took. My insurance was over $1,200 a year and Minimum Wage then was about $1.25… That $1,200 was equivalent to about $10,500 in today’s dollars.
I took the Driver’s Ed Course because it offered some discount (maybe 5% or so…).
My grandfather taught me early how to brake so it was a nice smooth stop, no jerking, no sudden jolt at the end… So whenever I drive an unfamiliar car for the first time, I always test the brakes, no panic stops, just several slowdowns to get the feel of how far the pedal travels and how hard to press. Especially since my cars all had unassisted brakes and the Driver’s Ed’s car had power brakes and the first time I drove their car, as I left the parking lot, I slowed the car several times testing the brakes and the instructor asked me what I was doing and when I told him, he told me to stop it, it was bothering him and he told me not to worry, the brakes worked. As we came to the first stop light, I slammed on the brakes, throwing everyone off their seats (there were three other students in the back seat…). The instructor is stammering ready to scream at me and I said, “Hey, you’re right, the brakes work…”
After that, I seldom got to drive the car, he said I did not need the practice and the class work (all car accident horror movies) was all I needed to pass. Since I was only interested in the certificate, I usually skipped class and those other kids, many with only a learner’s permit got more driving time…
The “panic braking” was while parked withengine off.
Justo make one completely familiar withrottle and brake pedalocations.
Beauty salons should have guard posts outside so that one cannot drive their vehicle into thestablishment.
This Baskin Robbins, I believe, installed the yellow post and flower boxes after someone accidentally drove partially into the store.
My high school driver-training instructor seemed uninterested in braking strategy, but was obsessed about how the student driver should move into a stop-light controlled left hand turn lane. He insisted the student driver had to be moving no slower than the max speed limit for the road, and to maintain that speed until they’d entirely left the through traffic lane and entered the left hand turn lane. So the student would have no choice but to race down the road at full speed, veer into the left hand turn lane, then slam on the brakes so the car would stop before going through the intersection. Even if it was 6:30 am and there was nobody else on the road … lol …
Not all drivers training instructors are the same. Mine was a no nonsense teacher and firmer fighter pilot. He was a hot head but taught well. The one my son had taught them to drive close to parked cars in areas, follow close so as not to disturb other drivers by driving at a safe pace and distance, etc. I’ve always been afraid of kids running out from parked cars, people opening their cage doors, at d wobbly bike riders.
Buthere are many cases in which an excellent driver all his life has pressed the accelerator instead of the brake.
So as wife and I age, we practice panic-breaking regularly.
In my driving I have discovered that I may be going below the speedimit in ideal conditions when I should be athe limit when performing a STAT bloodelivery.
If no urgency, as a registered tree-hugger and Greenie I often travebelow the posted speedimit in the right lane whenot impeding traffic.
Despite having ridden motorcycles for years, I took the motorcycle safety course and learned some important lessons. Hard braking was one of those. The most surprisingly technique was that if i wanted to suddenly dodge a pothole by going to its right side, this is best done counter-intuitively: with your right arm, push the handlebar to the LEFT. It tilts the bike to the right, much better than leaning right.
I am hitting “elderly” soon, and despite a clean driving record, I am noting some changes and driving a little slower. If I am going to hit a storefront, I hope it is one of those new, ugly vaping stores.
Had one drivers ed guy, screaming of all the luck I get stuck with a guy that stops for birds! (Not me!) Practice driving with my mom, ran a stop sign, she said pull over and wait for the police. After 15 minutes was cleared for going forward again!
No doubt!
My high school was the largest in the State of NJ, during the '60s and '70s. Although I was “certified” to have received Behind the Wheel driver training, I never even got to sit in the ONE driver training car that we had, for an enrollment of almost 3,000 students.
I guess that my father’s Driver Training instruction was at least “adequate”, in light of the fact that I’ve had no MV accidents since 1970.
Yeah I still hear my dads instruction from over the years rumbling in my head. Keep way to the right on a hill on a gravel road. Stay away from those parked cars. Don’t stop in deep snow. That guy is not going to stop. And on and on. I could alway back a trailer better than him though. Gotta go check the cemetery flowers and put the flags out for 9/11.