This Confused Old Driver Hammered The Throttle And Drove Into A Swimming Pool
A 73-year-old woman has driven into a swimming pool in Colorado Springs after hoofing the wrong pedal… and keeping her foot hard down.
Anyone not in favour of compulsory driving re-tests raise your hand, and then pay attention to what happens when you get old, senile and incompetent. A choice of two fairly widely-spaced pedals can clearly become too much.
The confused driver was heading away from the Cheyenne Mountain Resort when she apparently clobbered the accelerator instead of the brake. Instead of calmly realising her mistake and swapping pedals, she simply left her foot in as though she was Fernando Alonso and started a game of car pinball with her surroundings.
After striking another car the pensioner then changed course to bump up a hill – foot apparently still down – before hitting a fence, getting airborne and landing in the pool. Fortunately the pool itself was closed at the time, so no one was in the way to be injured by the colossal berk behind the wheel.
She had to be rescued by members of the public who were quickly on the scene. The panicked old lady was in shock, witnesses say, and couldn’t even bring herself to try to escape her watery casket on her own.
Naturally, the pool had to be drained to retrieve the car, and then cleaned and refilled. According to ITV news, the driver will face careless driving charges. How about just making sure she’s okay and then tearing her licence up?
Comments
There’s somebody probably played too much BeamNG…
Sir Wafel, was that You?
Or watched when Jeremy Clarkson put his Rolls Royce into a pool
What on earth is that in the pool. First glance tells me its a Macan.
It’s a Lincoln MKsomethin
Range Rover Sport?
2012 Lincoln MKX i think
One of these I think, Lincoln MKT (?)
She might have seen what Clarkson did at that pool opening ceremony. 😂
OF COURSE IT’S A WOMAN
Its a scubaru
To the author of this article;
You have to understand the situation some elderly people are in. Yes, their faculties and overall skills are lesser than when they first picked up the wheel of a car but it’s a very depressing thing (especially for men I heard) to get their license revoked. Their only mean of transportation and independence is taken away from them. At that age, it is very difficult for them to be sitting on the sidelines as they are retired and are somewhat forgotten by their family. I advocate the license be revoked in the case mentioned above but you have to be a tiny bit more sensible to the problems and dilemmas that the elderly public face. Don’t go on a cyber rampage just to appear the tiniest bit more edgy.
I have no issue with old people driving. But i do believe everyone should have to retake their driving test every 10 years up until you are 50 then after that every 5 years until you are 65 then every 2 years after that. Would just make sure every driver is up to scratch and safety. Having almost been hit by 2 elderly drivers this week who are just doing stupid things that you would not expect any other driver to do i believe this solution would help mitigate these issues.
I took my grandmother to court to get her liscence revoked after she hit other cars in the driveway….12 times…. In the space of 5 minutes. She couldnt back out the space because there was no space, she was trying to fit her SUV through a smart car sized hole. Imagine what she’d do on a public road or in a parking lot god forbid she was a danger in her old age. Told her if she wanted to go somewhere call a cab or hire herself a driver, a service which is becoming popular in Jamaica now since it’s so inexpensive. She ended up hiring a driver and using that as transport until she kicked the bucket. It’s not that i wasnt semsitive to her situation, it’s just that i was more concerned about her accidentally running over someone than i was about hurting a few feelings. She got over it or didnt i dont really care but a person cant get over death or serious injury
I respect your opinion, Porschephile. I had grandparents who shouldn’t have been driving, who lived alone and whose cars were their only means of freedom. But if you can’t tell the difference between a brake pedal and an accelerator, it’s time to stop. If after several seconds you still haven’t realised, it’s long past time to stop. I think the residents at the complex at the time this happened have a right to feel angry, and this article reflects that. It’s pure good luck that no one was in or around the pool at the time, or the consequences of one elderly person’s decision not to stop driving could have been deadly. I, for one, am totally in favour of compulsory re-tests, if only once you get past 60. It’s a fact that the brain degrades and things like this happen, so whether it affects the individual’s freedom or not, they simply don’t have the necessary insight into their condition and therefore aren’t qualified to say whether they should or shouldn’t still be driving. Only the evidence, in this case, can say that. Ideally, her declining ability would have been discovered under testing in safe conditions, and this inexcusable accident would have been avoided.
We’re not saying just ban them, we’re saying retest them.
So putting people’s life or health at risk, public property vs. the feelings of the “not capable”? My father retired from driving at 67 he admitted “I don’t have those same reflexes”, no uses public transport to go anywhere or walks … he’s 84.
Blatantly a fan of Keith Moon.
What car was it ??
Lincoln MKX
I have to say I do agree with driving retests for all after 10 years or so, but my grandfather (now gone) did almost this exact same thing with me in the car - reversed backwards, tried to brake but foot slipped off and went onto the throttle instead - ended up firing the car at great speed backwards into his own house. We had been telling him to stop for quite a while, but the thing is as soon as you give up the licence you are effectively housebound, and basically admitting defeat on life. I can really understand elderly people wanting to hold onto their licences, but I also know that he was a bloody danger on the roads as well. Hopefully when we get level 5 autonomous vehicles we can avoid things like this happening.