driver crashes Model S into restaurant

[doug]

> BOTH feet on respective pedals [yobigd20]

Added another 'negotiating' to my post for clarity. N.b. negotiating means 'not yet underway', as in pulling into or out of slots, or parallel parking, or turning around on a narrow crowned muddy road. Anywhere you don't completely trust your sightlines, mirrors or rear camera. Left hemisphere of brain = STOP. Right hemisphere of brain = GO....

We already have a split off thread on two foot. So if you want to continue discussing that, do it there.
Two foot driving

Btw, I thought neural decussation was common knowledge.

 

[AC1K]

hah, and she drives off....classic.

Whoa. Maybe it wasn't a woman, maybe it was a Slovak from NJ? :wink:

Thats funny....what makes you say Slovak from NJ?

this was posted on reddit, that woman was caught, it was outside of a gym in the states somewhere (cant remember really long time ago), and some other redditors go there quite often, they knew exactly who it was.

 

[montgom626]

Is someone going to spin this into an unintended acceleration story a la Lexus/Toyota a couple of years ago?!

@yobigd20, good luck!

I am sure that TM has the data recorder dl already.

 

[caddieo]

I'm probably going to get reemed for this, but a 71 year old lady driving a brand new Tesla Model S? Really? Probably doesn't' even know that it doesn't run on gas, blind as a bat, clearly can't even tell the difference between the "gas pedal" and the brake, and probably had no idea how to put the car in "park". Maybe it might have helped if she turned creep mode off...that is if she could even figure out how to use the console, let alone read and understand all of it.

Gee! I am 78. Maybe I should cancel my SP85 reservation, sell my 1973 BMW 2002 tii and Audi A8 and cancel my memberships in the BMW, Audi, and Tesla clubs.

 

[montgom626]

Gee! I am 78. Maybe I should cancel my SP85 reservation, sell my 1973 BMW 2002 tii and Audi A8 and cancel my memberships in the BMW, Audi, and Tesla clubs.

With age comes wisdom. Look at the accident rate for 20 somethings.

BTW, let me know when you want to sell your BMW. ;-)

 

[tdelta1000]

I think it's a doctored photo but the event may have happened.

 

[doug]

I think it's a doctored photo but the event may have happened.

What is the matter with you people? Not everything is a conspiracy.

 

[Plug Me In]

Medved,

That's one maneuver the Model S can't do!

 

[doug]

Thread title updated to be more descriptive.

 

[ADN_ModelS]

What is the matter with you people? Not everything is a conspiracy.

I read that the woman is a Exxon employee, and she crashed the car to prove electric cars are unsafe. Or perhaps it was that she's a Saudi? Either way... I'm sure there's a bigger story behind this.

 

[markb1]

I think it's a doctored photo but the event may have happened.

Well it is Instagram, where all images are modified in some way. (I still can't fathom why anyone would want to apply an Instagram filter to their photos, but I'm told people do.) So doctored, sure, in some sense of the word, but clearly not fake.

 

[ChadS]

Not everything is a conspiracy.

That is exactly what I would expect somebody in on it to say...

 

[vetboy45]

I'm probably going to get reemed for this, but a 71 year old lady driving a brand new Tesla Model S? Really? Probably doesn't' even know that it doesn't run on gas, blind as a bat, clearly can't even tell the difference between the "gas pedal" and the brake, and probably had no idea how to put the car in "park". Maybe it might have helped if she turned creep mode off...that is if she could even figure out how to use the console, let alone read and understand all of it.

My mom is 67 years old and has a model S. Don't judge people by their age. Makes me wonder about your genetics if you assume someone who's 70+ is incapable of learning new things. Besides, as I'm getting older, 71 ain't as old as it used to be.

 

[mitch672]

Well fortunately no one was hurt.

Btw, this TV program dealt respectfully with this sensitive topic:

Grey Dawn (Season 7, Episode 10) - Full Episode Player - South Park Studios

View attachment 19235

I don't have much to say about the incident, it can happen to anyone. My mom was driving right up until she became ill at 72 with Pancreatic Cancer, in fact she had just bought a new 2010 Camry 2 months before she was diagnosed. My dad, well we had to take his license away in his early 70's, he managed to clip an MBTA bus, and he realized he probably shouldn't be driving any longer (but he always regreted not being able to drive), he had onset of Parkinsons, so muscle control was starting to affect him.

That South Park episode has a lot of truth in it (and a lot of humor), the grandpa "calling in the AARP", and having them parachute in, although funny, they do operate that way, only politically, rather than as comandos with guns. You cross the AARP and senior benefits in this country, and you won't be relelected. no one wants to do battle with the AARP... the boys blockading the "Old Country Buffet", to "save the country", brilliant

 

[yobigd20]

My mom is 67 years old and has a model S. Don't judge people by their age. Makes me wonder about your genetics if you assume someone who's 70+ is incapable of learning new things. Besides, as I'm getting older, 71 ain't as old as it used to be.

As I said in an above post, that shouldn't really be a blanket statement, and I already admitted I am royally screwed with my genetics. most of my grandparents died early 70s, and none of them were sane or had a clue what was going on around them at that age. one used to even 'feed the little boy' in the attic by placing bowls a cereal up there that would sit for weeks. None of them could even figure out how to turn a PC on, use a cell phone, or manipulate any sort of electronic device more complicated than a toaster.

 

[JRP3]

What is the matter with you people? Not everything is a conspiracy.

I heard Broder was in the passenger seat, probably put his foot on the pedal.

Regarding the "age" angle, it certainly seems that older people are more prone to this type of accident. I know it's fun to pretend everything gets better with age, but then there is reality.

 

[gaswalla]

very similar event here: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/car-crashes-in-to-san-diego-restaurant/

Pretty cool closed circuit video

In this case, it was a Honda, and a woman driver... make your own extrapolations between the two events.

 

[cwerdna]

"For this to happen, she must have really pushed down on that pedal. Why can't people just admit they pressed the wrong pedal instead of just claiming that the car magically did something completely different than what was commanded?"

This is simple. They really think they are on the brake. They press harder when the car starts to accelerate. It is over before they can realise what is happening. Afterward, they think it was the car, since they are sure they were pressing on the brake pedal.

This has been an issue for decades. See the 60-minutes episode from the 1980's about the woman who killed her son with her Audi 5000. Very sad.

On this note, people might find Smart pedals won’t put the brakes on driver error / UCLA Today interesting. This was originally published around the time of the Toyota SUA media frenzy (was in the news every day for weeks).

Back then, many of us who worked in fields like ergonomics, human performance and psychology suspected that these unintended-acceleration events might have a human component. We noticed that the complaints were far more frequent among older drivers (in a General Motors study, 60-to-70-year-olds had about six times the rate of complaints as 20-to-30-year-olds), drivers who had little experience with the specific car involved (parking-lot attendants, car-wash workers, rental-car patrons) and people of relatively short stature.

Several researchers hypothesized how a driver, intending to apply the brake pedal to keep the car from creeping, would occasionally press the accelerator instead. Then, surprised that the car moved so much, he would try pressing harder. Of course, if his right foot was actually on the accelerator, the throttle would open and the car would move faster. This would then lead the driver to press the “brake” harder still, and to bring about even more acceleration. Eventually, the car would be at full throttle, until it crashed. The driver’s foot would be all the way to the floor, giving him the impression that the brakes had failed.

In the cases that went to court, jurors naturally asked, why would a driver with decades of driving experience suddenly mistake the accelerator for the brake? And why would the episode last so long — often 6 to 10 seconds or more? Wouldn’t that be ample time to shut off the ignition, shift to neutral or engage the parking brake?

First, in these situations, the driver does not really confuse the accelerator and the brake. Rather, the limbs do not do exactly what the brain tells them to. Noisy neuromuscular processes intervene to make the action slightly different from the one intended. The driver intends to press the brake, but once in a while these neuromuscular processes cause the foot to deviate from the intended trajectory — just as a basketball player who makes 90 percent of his free throws sometimes misses the hoop. This effect would be enhanced by the driver being slightly misaligned in the seat when he first gets in the car.

The answer to the second question is that, when a car accelerates unexpectedly, the driver often panics, and just presses the brake harder and harder. Drivers typically do not shut off the ignition, shift to neutral or apply the parking brake....

The Audi fiasco is also mentioned.

 

[dsm363]

This is more of a driver skill issue than an age issue. There are countless drivers this age who would never come close to something like this.

 

[steve841]

Bonnie! Where are you?

This is killing me!