It's a tragic situation in every sense. I'm sure there was no malice in the old man's actions. He mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal. It happens to a lot of people. Okay, well maybe it doesn't happen to a lot of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80-year-old drivers, but it happens to a lot of 86-year-old drivers.
I think it shows a need to review elderly drivers for their ability to drive on a more frequent basis.
Airlines are allowed to discriminate based on age and health for pilots, so should the DMV.
I believe you're right. My mother did the same thing at age 78. Fortunately she was pressing the brake and wondering why her car wouldn't move. It was at a crowded airport at Christmas time--I'm so grateful she didn't make the opposite mistake. We got her to give up driving shortly thereafter.
It happened to 2 teenage girls learning to drive who killed their mothers..These were separate tragedies a few years apart.
It's a tragic situation in every sense. I'm sure there was no malice in the old man's actions. He mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal. It happens to a lot of people. Okay, well maybe it doesn't happen to a lot of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80-year-old drivers, but it happens to a lot of 86-year-old drivers.""
I don't disagree that this is very tragic for all concerned.
However, I don't think there is reason to make a blanket charge about the abilities of 86 y/o persons. I know a couple who are 82 and 86. They both still ride 50 mile horse events together. She tried a tough 100 miler, The Tevis Cup, summer 06, and was peeved when they pulled her horse at the 93 miles vet station.
I do think there should be more emphasis on families to watch the ability of their parents and other family members have become.
Just being old should not be an indictment against you. Where I live there are lots of old people living alone. I'm not 86 yet, but I am not 35 either, and I live alone. So far I am doing ok, and a group of about 5 of us keep watch on the rest in the group.
It happened to me when I was 25...although only for a second or so. I was on an aircraft tow tractor and hit a hydraulic mule. For a split second, I couldn't understand why standing on the break was making me go fast.
Did a similar thing while flying, too. I got disoriented, and, for a split second, couldn't connect my pulling back on the stick with the G’s quickly trying to black me out.
I don’t drive tow tractors or fly any more.
This type (though not as serious) of ACCIDENT has happened to people of all ages. It was a case of the elderly man thinking he was stomping as hard on the brake as he could, but what felt like the brake was the gas pedal. There have been recent situations where there was a specific vehicle that was notorious for the brake feeling the same as the gas pedal. One person pulled into her garage, stepped on the brake only it wasn't the brake, but the gas pedal and just kept stomping the accelerator until the car plowed clear through the back wall of the garage and out the other side. She wasn't the only one that happened to; the manufacturer denied any responsibility, but it was too much of a widespread problem for it to be a coincidence.
I pity the old man. He probably should have already taken himself off the road due to decreased agility, but not many people are willing to do that. I would guess that most of us will not see the reality of our impaired driving ability by the time we get to that age either. Most elderly who are taken off the road are involved in less tragic accidents than this one, thank the Lord. A friend who was in her 80's drove like a maniac, yakking her head off and looking away from the road constantly, until she let her license expire and had to go back and take a test. She failed the on-road test and had to quit driving; but it was a miracle she didn't kill some people before she was stopped from driving. I rode with her - just once - and she barrelled down the road at a clip, alternating between almost veering over the middle line into oncoming traffic to barely missing clipping a whole road crew working on the right shoulder of the highway. She was a dear old lady, but her family hadn't bucked her too much about things.
I doubt the old man got up that morning, got behind the wheel and thought, "Let me see how many people I can kill today." Christ is his judge.