Unintended acceleration study blames older women drivers

[IDemo]

When the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year ruled out the likelihood of unknown electronic gremlins causing so-called unintended acceleration problems with Toyota vehicles, researchers instead suggested that driver error was largely to blame.

A new study echoes the likelihood that drivers may hit the throttle when intending to reach for the brake – while also saying the majority of such accidents involve older women and occur primarily in parking lots. But the report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also points the finger at drivers under 20.

Particularly striking is the finding that nearly two-thirds of the drivers involved in accidents involving the misuse of the gas pedal are female. In all motor vehicles crashes, nearly two in three drivers are male, NHTSA reports.

“The most consistent finding across data sources was the striking over-representation of females in pedal misapplication crashes, relative to their involvement in all types of crashes,” the study’s authors declared in an executive summary. “Females were the drivers in nearly two-thirds of the pedal misapplication crashes” included in the study.

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/13/11183020-unintended-acceleration-study-blames-older-women-drivers?lite

[mactime]

1. In another study

scientists have found that water is wet

[Voice for Peace]

2. but was it an unintended study?

those are often the least accurate

[MineralMan]

3. I've seen one such incident.

It was an elderly man driving. He had parked outside of the post office in the small town in California, where I lived. I was in a store next door, when I heard the crash. He had jumped the curb from the parking lot and his car was halfway inside the little post office. I was the first person on the scene. The man was not hurt, but was somewhat confused from the accident.

I looked in his car as I was asking him if he was OK. The transmission was in Drive.

I know exactly what happened. He meant to back out of the parking spot, but mistakenly put the car in Drive. When he pressed on the accelerator to back up, the car didn't move. So, he pressed harder. That provided enough power for the car to jump the curb and hit the post office. It was very simple. It was something he did completely by accident, and the additional pressing on the accelerator was his response to his error with the transmission.

I suspect that is the case in most of these parking lot incidents. Transmission in Drive instead of Reverse, no movement of the car with a light pressure on the accelerator, so more pressure is applied, until the car does move...in the wrong direction.