OT: "Mixed up the brake and accelerator"?!?

Illogical but it used to be almost universal. My mum's Morris Minor and my dad's Hillman Hunter had reverse to the right of the 3/4 plane against a strong spring - ie like the above diagram but without the 5/6 plane. The first car I remember with reverse in "an unusual position" (ie to the left of first) was someone's Vauxhall Viva HB. I think putting it to the left of first started when 5-speed gearboxes became more common in the 70s. But evidently not 100% of the time, as our Honda shows. I'm sure I've driven other fairly recent cars with it like that.

I agree that putting reverse next to first is a more logical place.

It's possible Austin and Morris set their convention before becoming BMC. And wanted to keep owners loyal to that marque.

Rolls did much the same. Their first autos had the selector on the left hand side of the steering column, in the 50s. Odd when they liked right hand floor gear changes. ;-) When indicator stalks arrived, they mounted that on the right. And continued to do so into the 70s.

Reading the end part of that, not sure why we have this override thing on autos. I've used one ONCE, on a VERY steep very LONG downhill in the French alps to avoid wearing out the brakes. Also tested same one just for a laugh. I selected 1st at 100mph. It very sensibly dropped a gear precisely when it was possible. The rev counter precisely hit the red line on every gear change. That's German engineering for you.

Last week a friend of mine had a 90 year old driver reverse at speed into his fence and hedge, and it had to be lifted out. Apparently the person put it into reverse, by accident. Brian

I can understand that, 1st and reverse are close together on a manual, and you can forget which you've already put it in if distracted. And in an auto, they're the wrong way round - forward gear is further back then reverse on the lever.

But the brake and accelerator I can't understand mixing up, faster on the right, slower on the left, on every single car ever made. Please don't someone say "Model T Ford" or "De Dion-Bouton", I wasn't going back that far!

I seem to hear about this more in America for some reason. Yet your pedals are the same as ours in the UK. Sure, you have more autos, but those two pedals remain in the same place, actually with a larger brake pedal.

Do Americans cars have the different level of pedal for each? In the UK, the brake is much higher (as in closer to you), so if you miss something slightly with your foot (as in your foot is halfway between the two pedals), you'll always hit the brake first.

I would have taken them or him to court. Back pain for a lifetime is worth a LOT more than that.

What part of "Please don't someone say "Model T Ford" or "De Dion-Bouton", I wasn't going back that far!" didn't you understand?

If you remove your right foot from the pedals (eg tuck it under your seat) and then bring it forward again, you *may* need to look which pedal (brake/accelerator) you are about to press, if you can't do it by muscle memory and feel (eg "can I feel the wheel arch of the car immediately to the right of my foot?").

I suppose the problem is that if someone is not very confident with controlling a car while manoeuvring (which begs the question "are they still capable of driving?") then if the car starts to go "out of control" (which may just need a slight reduction in power or a gentle touch on the brake) they may panic and instinctively press a pedal - *any* pedal - which may turn out to be the accelerator rather than brake.

I can understand people making that mistake. They are still utterly incompetent, but the mistake is still understandable, if not forgivable.

It's a matter of having the awareness of your surroundings and your car. When I'm reversing, I always bring the clutch up slowly, with minimum power, to feel which way the car is about to go (that rules out being in first rather than reverse), and then I start moving slowly and gradually apply power and let the clutch up further, alert for any reason that I may need to come off the power and apply the brake in an emergency (eg if a car or person suddenly comes into view even after I've checked). At low speed, it's actually quicker to pull the handbrake on than to move from the accelerator to footbrake (as long as I have released the accelerator and pressed the clutch in a manual).

Also I always waggle the gear lever from side to side (to prove to myself that it's in neutral) before starting the car (assuming it will start without the clutch pressed) or before releasing the clutch after I've stopped and as I'm about to turn the engine off.

Setting off smoothly, and without a sudden jerk, in an automatic is something I find harder to do than in a manual, probably because in a manual you have two ways of controlling the power: accelerator and clutch, so the first few yards of movement are controlled with a fixed accelerator and letting in the clutch, rather than *solely* by varying accelerator pressure as in an automatic and waiting for the torque converter to start transmitting power to the wheels. That's only a problem when inching into or out of a parking space, or lining up the car with a trailer's hitch, and needs very quick reactions to release the power and dab the brakes if you're about to go to far.

"Mix up the brake and accelerator" really means one of these:

"I was too drunk to drive." "I was too old to drive."

Cindy Hamilton

Every week you see on the news where someone drives into a store, often an older person that can't figure out that pedal thing.

As for Allstate, you should blame your lawyer. Or should have gotten one at that point.

No they are not. They may be in the same order, but in some smaller cars, the intrusion of the front wheel arch into the cabin means that they are all set towards the left. Someone driving one of those after a larger car would find their right foot naturally positioned over the accelerator instead of the brake when they sat in a normal position.

Anyway, mixing up the accelerator and brake is not about not knowing where they are, it is about simply having your foot out of position for that car; finding the car moving faster when you are trying to slow or stop it; and automatically pressing harder to stop it; with everything them happening so fast that you don't have chance to realise why and correct it.

SteveW

Its surprisingly common actually.

But when some use the same foot for both, its no surprising that occasionally someone presses the wrong one at times.

It is mostly the ancients like that, presumably early dementia symptoms.

Firstly, I never move my foot from the pedals, or perhaps just sit it directly behind (my side of) the accelerator. Secondly, if I do I can easily remember where it was. Try this. Take a book, read something part way down the page. Look away. Look back. I can return my sight to precisely the word I was at, can't everybody?

AFAIK all countries require you to successfully park a car in a few different ways, and do 3 point turns etc. to pass the test.

How odd. If anything makes me panic (like somebody's dog who ran in front of my car recently), I instinctively step on the brake and only the brake. My subconscious knows that in line with my right foot is power, and between my two feet is stop.

They shouldn't have passed their test. The emergency stop part of the test should have detected that psychological problem.

I don't do that on purpose, but I have on occasion been in the wrong gear in a car where they're very close together. The car only moves about 6 inches before I subconsciously stand on the clutch and brake to bring it to a halt.

I don't use the handbrake at all. It's far weaker than the footbrake, and the cable often stretches on older cars so it doesn't work at all. I can hillstart perfectly well using the footbrake. When I park I just put it in gear. If it's a very steep hill, I turn the wheel so it would roll into the kerb.

Why bother? I just start it with the clutch pressed. Usually I've parked the car and put it in 1st so it doesn't roll. So I have no desire to put it into neutral then back into 1st to move.

How odd. I've had three autos, one of which was very old (a 1988 3.5L V8 Range Rover) - all three were VERY smooth. Letting go of the brake even suddenly will make it very gradually ease up to about 5mph. Then pressing the accelerator is extremely smooth, you don't have to worry about gearchanges, even an unintentional sudden jolt of the accelerator is absorbed by the torque convertor. Although there was something I particularly liked about that car - no safety mechanisms to protect the gearbox. I could put it into N, floor it and rev to the red line, then engage D. All 4 wheels would spin quite professionally and the car would shoot forwards at a speed a 2 tonne vehicle should not.

I object to that comment, having successfully driven home 40 miles after 8 pints.

It doesn't happen every week in the UK. Even though I'm in the UK, I see more Americans doing it on our news than our own people. Either you lot are stupider, or your driving tests suck. For some reason I get told that it's because they use autos over there, how can that be harder when you have LESS pedals?

I thought all Americans used lawyers every week.

I could accept your reasoning if the error occurred the first time driving a car. Most happen with the same car the driver has used for years. Dementia matters.

Remember the Audi problems? Pedal were close in height, IIRC.

I've driven cars of all sizes and never had that problem. Unless you're wearing steel toe capped boots, you can feel if your foot is on the pedal correctly.

No car has the accelerator so far over it's where you expect the brake to be.

Who would be monumentally stupid enough to do that? You do x, it causes the opposite of what you expect, so er.... lets do more of the wrong thing? My god man....

Your subconscious should react very fast, if not, surrender your license.

Is there not a way to reopen a case citing your lawyer was s*it?