A Sob Story Of Ineptitude

I just watched a woman on TV tearfully relating her nightmarish journey of abject terror as her Toyota - with stuck gas pedal - Screamed down the highway for six miles at 100 MPH before finally crashing.

Six miles? Anywhere in this six mile ride of terror this woman could have put her transmission into neutral, stop the car - coast to a stop if necessary - and turn off the ignition. Problem handled.

Oh, you say... Putting the transmission into neutral would allow the motor to over rev and quite possibly destroy itself. OK, then it's better to crash and burn?

Of course, turning off the ignition at 70-80-90-100 MPH will lock up the steering. This is a bad thing. Another one of those unintended consequences we all hear about all the time. Locking up the steering with the ignition switch helps keep us all safer from car thieves, we are told.

In an either/or situation, I'd prefer to have an ignition you can simply turn off in an emergency, one that does not lock up the steering, and take my chances with the car thieves. That's one of the things we have insurance for.

But that's all besides the point...

If this tearful gas pedal victim could not figure what to do with a runaway car - even after five minutes - she is as dangerous as the runaway car, and should not be allowed on the highway behind the wheel of another car... ever.

But, you say... She was panicked! She was terrified! She couldn't think straight!

Well duh... That's why she should lose her license. Driving is a privilege - not a right - and once you demonstrate you can't handle a bad situation while driving... Well?