I’m not assuming that this guy’s story is legit. But for people in general, if you have a hands-free phone that you can just push buttons on quickly (don’t even have to get all three digits in the same hand-off-the-wheel moment) that may be a lot easier than shifting gears.
I’m just saying that shifting gears while trying to maintain control of a speeding car is probably harder in real life than it sounds. And I’m not saying one shouldn’t try to shift the gear, but I can see where depending on the circumstances, it maight take a while.
Mr. Sikes’ story is certainly suspicious, especially given the amazing “coincidence” that he had just taken the car into a Toyota dealership and been told the car wasn’t part of the recall. He may well have just bought himself several years of free lodging in prison (at taxpayer expense, naturally).
Oh, that is just so silly. How do you think, for example, people with manual transmission cars have been able to drive at 120+ mph speeds, shifting gears all the time, on the Autobahn each and every day for the last 50+ years? Newton's first law of motion ring a bell?