Interesting that people, when slowly moving into a parking spot, would be hitting the brake as hard as that Boss hit the gas. Seriously: that accelerator was FLOORED to produce that type of motion. Who panic-stop brakes when parking?

factoryconnection: Interesting that people, when slowly moving into a parking spot, would be hitting the brake as hard as that Boss hit the gas. Seriously: that accelerator was FLOORED to produce that type of motion. Who panic-stop brakes when parking?

A woman apparently

"It is not yet known if the driver will be charged"

Why the fark not? When you have to go to court for minor infractions, why should it be a different story if you are unable to operate your car, cause an accident and injure people?

Holy fark! I didn't quite know what you meant by 'that kind of motion': she put the car a full length into that shop!

I hope the person who was leaving the building was okay; she got bent over the hood pretty hard.

Trying to understand: let's say you're applying a lot of controlled pressure to the brakes(not stomping actively, just pressing way too hard), but the ball of your right foot is just on the right edge of the brake pedal. So, your foot slips off the brake pedal, and before you can react, mashes into the accelerator. Now, in my experience, a sudden 0-100% change in throttle application doesn't blast the car forward immediately - you need to hold it down for half a second or so for things to really get going. I can totally see putting the front (up to the tires) through the glass, but that was just outrageous.

Does the US have a show for these folks like DiscoveryChannelCanada does: Canada's Worst Driver?

Loomy: Holy fark! I didn't quite know what you meant by 'that kind of motion': she put the car a full length into that shop!

I hope the person who was leaving the building was okay; she got bent over the hood pretty hard.

Quite surprisingly, the person hit initially and then driven through the wall was still ambulatory with minor injuries. I guess this all comes down to people just not being able to handle stress quickly... most people panic at things from small toaster fires to sports injuries to car control problems. We're pretty far as a society from drilling that sort of responsiveness (i.e. lift OFF accelerator, jam ON brakes) into people, which is reasonable considering how mundane and safe our lives are in general.

shoulda been front paged; we haven't had a "woman driver" thread in a while...

Woman calmly gets out of the car and asks, "What's the soup of the day?"

Smiths: shoulda been front paged; we haven't had a "woman driver" thread in a while...

This.... must be done.

I've mixed up the gas and brakes before. I managed to lurch a good ten feet. I didn't go fifty feet into a building while creating a tidal wave of debris in front of my vehicle.

I suspect that the driver hit the wrong pedal and then believed that the pressure he/she was applying was insufficient rather than conclude that the pedal was incorrect and then pressed even harder. You would think that the driver would hear the engine rev up, but music, cell phones, screaming kids, deafness or whatever may have caused the driver to not notice.

cgraves67:
I suspect that the driver hit the wrong pedal and then believed that the pressure he/she was applying was insufficient rather than conclude that the pedal was incorrect and then pressed even harder.

I think we all know it was a she...

Loomy: Does the US have a show for these folks like DiscoveryChannelCanada does: Canada's Worst Driver?

Yes, America's Worst Driver, but as is usually the case, the American version has been lobotomized to pure unwatchable stupidity that completely misses the point of the original.

If you have never watched Canada's Worst Driver, please do. Seasons 5 and 6 are up on Youtube, and they are epic.

For many people when they panic if they think they're hitting the brake are just going to keep mashing down trying to stop. So, when they hit the gas instead they just keep it floored trying to stop.

That's actually what happened in nearly all the Toyota problems. People swore the car took off on its own and they were pushing the brake as hard as they could and it did nothing. Unfortunatly they were mashing the gas instead of the brake.

Unless your brakes are junk they'll stop a car a full throttle. Espically with a front wheel drive.

NBSV: Unless your brakes are junk they'll stop a car a full throttle. Espically with a front wheel drive.

True... Car and Driver did a good theory-to-practice test on this with a variety of cars. However, I've driven a lot of different types of cars, and in all of them the brake pedal and accelerator have felt completely different not only in shape and placement (duh) but also the feel of pressing them. A lot of accelerators are bottom-hinged but rarely are brake pedals, on that point.

Bad drivers doing dumb things.

cgraves67: You would think that the driver would hear the engine rev up, but music, cell phones, screaming kids, deafness or whatever may have being a woman caused the driver to not notice.

*DIng dong*

Who is it?

Candygram.

Don't you mean landshark?

....

I'm actually a Ford.

Tch!...women drivers.

factoryconnection: Interesting that people, when slowly moving into a parking spot, would be hitting the brake as hard as that Boss hit the gas. Seriously: that accelerator was FLOORED to produce that type of motion. Who panic-stop brakes when parking?

I think the signal that's going to the brain is "hey, I'm pushing this pedal as hard as I can and it's still going forward; better push even harder." I remember one video from waaay before YouTube that showed a woman not only plowing almost all the way through a convenience store until her car was wedged against a support pillar, but her tires KEPT SPINNING, even after she had stopped. What stuck with me was the thought that she literally couldn't figure out what was wrong with her car except that it wasn't doing what she thought she was telling it to do.

Though I have to admit this was impressive. Most of the time you get that half-in, half-out thing going on. This one could have parked two more cars behind it without reaching daylight.

"But the movie starts in 15 minutes."

"How about if I just run in real quick?"

"I guess that would be fAAAAAUUGGHGHH!!!!!"

Asian woman? Gotta be.

Coincidentally, some of us in another thread were actually talking about how men are worse drivers than women, despite the stereotype. No, really. (new window)

factoryconnection: Interesting that people, when slowly moving into a parking spot, would be hitting the brake as hard as that Boss hit the gas. Seriously: that accelerator was FLOORED to produce that type of motion. Who panic-stop brakes when parking?

This exact thing happened right in front of me at a Best Buy. The person was slowly pulling into the parking space, and then zoomed right into the store. If I had been walking a little faster I would have been in front of her when it happened.

/Yes, it was a woman driver.
//Luckily, no one was hurt.

Tyrone Slothrop: factoryconnection: Interesting that people, when slowly moving into a parking spot, would be hitting the brake as hard as that Boss hit the gas. Seriously: that accelerator was FLOORED to produce that type of motion. Who panic-stop brakes when parking?

This exact thing happened right in front of me at a Best Buy. The person was slowly pulling into the parking space, and then zoomed right into the store. If I had been walking a little faster I would have been in front of her when it happened.

/Yes, it was a woman driver.
//Luckily, no one was hurt.

"Women have a bad reputation for being bad drivers, but in most cases, from a safety point, they are better drivers," says Bob U'Ren, the senior vice president of Quality Planning. (new window)

NBSV: That's actually what happened in nearly all the Toyota problems. People swore the car took off on its own and they were pushing the brake as hard as they could and it did nothing. Unfortunatly they were mashing the gas instead of the brake.

Exactly. That's why they had to redesign the pedals and why the U.S fined them.
People in the US have big clodhopper feet, don't send cars with kiddy pedals.
Ask Audi if you don't believe me.

shiat I pulled a similar blunder yesterday in a slick (thankfully empty) parking lot. Had it on an incline so hit the gas rather hard, accidentally had it in reverse and lurched downhill. I traversed less than 2 feet before stopping cold.

When she did the same thing, my sister knocked over a lamppost.

I'm not saying it's a male/female thing... I'm just saying

Mike Chewbacca: "Women have a bad reputation for being bad drivers, but in most cases, from a safety point, they are better drivers," says Bob U'Ren, the senior vice president of Quality Planning.

WTF kind of name is U'Ren? Is anybody named U'Stimpy?

Mike Chewbacca: Tyrone Slothrop: factoryconnection: Interesting that people, when slowly moving into a parking spot, would be hitting the brake as hard as that Boss hit the gas. Seriously: that accelerator was FLOORED to produce that type of motion. Who panic-stop brakes when parking?

This exact thing happened right in front of me at a Best Buy. The person was slowly pulling into the parking space, and then zoomed right into the store. If I had been walking a little faster I would have been in front of her when it happened.

/Yes, it was a woman driver.
//Luckily, no one was hurt.

"Women have a bad reputation for being bad drivers, but in most cases, from a safety point, they are better drivers," says Bob U'Ren, the senior vice president of Quality Planning. (new window)

Women generally have poor driving skills, but men are much more aggressive.. so it makes sense that they'd end up in more accidents. Men also tend to be less cautious and more competitive.. that's why rush hour where I live is a battle-zone. AND I ALWAYS WIN MOTHERfarkERS

Just want to second the mention of Canada's Worst Driver here; it truly is one of the most frightening shows on TV as you know every one of those drivers, times a hundred, is out there. It's also really well done and the host's snark is quite dead on.