Braking Bad(nytimes.com) |
Braking Bad(nytimes.com) |
I have an answer to this problem: ban automatic transmissions! Now, I say this as someone who drives a stick shift and who believes that is the only Right Way to operate a car, BUT let me give a serious logical defense of this position:
1. This would actually prevent the situation described in the article: modern cars with standard transmissions require you to depress the clutch to start the car. So if you accidently put your foot on the accelerator instead of the brake while starting, the fact that you also have to have the clutch in to start the car means that the engine is disconnected from the transmission. So instead of an out-of-control vehicle you'd merely rev the engine loudly.
2. When driving a standard transmission car, a reaction gets burned into your brain that, any time the car does something you didn't expect, the first step in recovery is to jab your foot down on that clutch pedal. Examples: if the engine revs because you put it into the wrong gear, if the engine dies because you dumped the clutch on a hill, or when you're braking to a stop, the first thing you must do in all those situations is depress the clutch. It becomes a reflex that you don't have to think about. So I argue that anyone used to driving a stick shift is going to press the clutch and disengage the engine immediately even if, or especially if, they are in a panic situation.
3. When you take into account the actual small number of incidents compared to the large overall population, compared to how many other ways there are to have an accident in a car that people are NOT looking at, requiring a physical modification to all car designs for the lockout pedal is a reaction out of proportion to the issue. I argue that either banning automatic transmissions or requiring a brake/accelerator pedal lockout are both outsize reactions, the difference between them is that lazy people who drive automatics would get upset over banning them, while putting in the lockout switch gives lazy people who won't learn to properly operate dangerous machines the ability to be even lazier.
At least, though, a brake/accelerator lockout switch might finally do away with those drivers who drag their brakes all the time (one foot resting on brake pedal while the other is on the accelerator).