The AM Forum

Often in sudden acceleration cases the foot is simply on the wrong pedal.  Then because the damned car isn't slowing down, push harder. Here's a fix, the brakerator pedal.  I liked the video.   I hope you enjoy it too.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/03/business/global/1247468541916/stop-and-go-reinventing-the-car-pedal.html

I wasn't real impressed with the shop hand welding without a helmet. Even if he was just tacking.

I'm not sure the pedal would go over well with the public.  I tried simulating the pedal using a couple of books on the floor and the leg of a table.  It is far more comfortable to maintain pressure on the books by pushing down with the foot, than exerting pressure sideways on the table leg.  The side force quickly becomes fatiguing, and with certain conditions such as arthritis or the aftermath of injury, it can be painful to apply pressure with the ankle and leg in a twist like that.  I couldn't imagine driving with that side-accelerator for hours at a time.

Maybe a better solution would be some kind of hand throttle on the steering wheel like what's on a motorcycle, but it would take some ingenuity to come up with something that would not interfere with manipulating the steering wheel and vice versa.

As for the safety issue, yes it made me cringe to see the bloke doing that welding without even wearing safety glasses.  I had a slight accident yesterday but fortunately, no permanent damage was done.  I was drilling pilot hole with a small drill in the drill press, about a #45, into two pieces of 1/8" aluminium sheets clamped together.  As the drill passed through the first piece and started to drill into the second, the tip of the drill bit, perhaps 1/16" long, broke off and hit me right smack in the eye.  I had never paid much attention to the warning that comes with a twist drill to always wear safety glasses, especially when drilling such a tiny hole in soft metal.  Now, I think I'll invest in a good pair of scratch-resistant safety glasses.  I have several pairs of plastic safety goggles, but I tend to avoid using them because new ones get scratched up almost immediately, and I can't see worth a crap through them.

The only way to eliminate human error is to eliminate the humans...

Computer controlled cars, with Image reconition, radar, and GPS systems and centralized control.  get in, tell it where to go and read the paper... er I mean surf the web.

Americans have been taught to drive with the right foot for acceleration and braking and the left foot for nothing or depressing a clutch for driving a manual tranny.

On my lawn tractor you push the right pedal to go and go faster the harder you push. With the left pedal you push the brake which over rides the left pedal.  Both feet are separated by middle of the tractor.

My wife drives with the left foot near the brake pedal and right foot on the accelerator pedal. That always bugged me when she drove but I wouldn't know it unless I was looking at her feet but maybe she's on to something and it's time to get away from single foot control of the vehicle.