Can I point out that it's very, very easy to loose "common sense" when faced with a life/death situation. Many of you are sitting on your high horse, pretending that you would have done the right thing.
I seriously doubt it. You have NO idea how you would really react to the situation given the exact same parameters. You think you do, and in retrospect, all of you are making the correct decisions. But you know what happened, and how to fix it.
Now, be surprised, in traffic, with your family, to a sudden accel when you shifted your left foot on the floor mat- not having any idea of what just happened. With 4 people in the car yelling at you all at the same time.
Think about it.
Oh, and remember that airline pilots are trained for many many hours to react to problems. Whereas no drivers are required to learn to react to this situation. You think you know what to do, but I still challenge that you mind would not react correctly the first time, either.
Here's how I see it:
Sudden and scary unintentional WOT- first thing- lay on the brakes- and find that the effort to stop has changed SO much that what I'm used to isn't even close to stopping the car, and you are so scared that you don't think to push harder. Second- hit the off botton- but it doesn't register that you need to hold down for 3 seconds- the adrenalin has just gone overboard. Now your entire car is panicing, and yelling suggestions to what to do- many of which you ARE trying darn it- so your distractions has just gone through the roof.
Pretend, now, that you would logically and rationally think that I can go into neutral or reverse w/o hurting the car and crashing.
There's no logical and rational at that point. IIRC, in this case, there's ONE passenger on board who has the idea to call 911, which is pretty darned smart, hoping that OnStar or something remote can shut the car down. Which, of course, it can't.
Think about it for a while before condemning the driver for laking common sense.
Eric
