chris c

At the lunch table a lot of us we confused how a trained California Highway Patrol officer didn't know to shift his Lexus to neutral. You don't get better driver training than a State Trooper. It has caused a lot of debate. Some people were knocking his training and cool under pressure.

People would get almost angry and say "shift the car to neutral and shut off the engine - what's the problem"

We find out his car doesn't have a key to shut off. but a button that goes thru a computer.

So he should have known to put he car in neutral.

Yesterday Rhonda Smith testified she tried every gear even reverse..

That makes sense the shifter lever isn't mechanically connected to the transmission. It is an input to the transmission control unit (tcu). The TCU actually controls the transmission with inputs from the gas pedal and engine control unit. The TCU isn't going to shift gears until the software determines what gear the ECU wants.

Was he acting cool under pressure or did he forget something as basic as shifting to neutral? Was the call to 911 proof that he was in control?

The problem with using brakes only to stop unintended acceleration is that the brakes heat up and "fade" leaving only 35% of braking power.

It is not the same phenomenon as standing still, pressing the brake and then the gas.

It's not that easy. Is it??