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We always see on the news accidents of old people driving off the roof of parking buildings because they hit the gas instead of the brake.
It's understandable, it might get a little confusing for the old, as well as the new, to associate left and right (pedals) with brake and gas.
So, why not use
a new system that's more respective to motion; a slot with a "peg" (shape it to conform to your foot). Push the peg up, and the car accellerates. Back, and the car brakes.
Or, perhaps, according to jellydoughnut, invert the input/output. Pushing up brakes the car, pulling back accellerates.
See Saw Accelerator
See_20Saw_20Accelerator
[xaviergisz, Aug 25 2006]
Epilepticar
Epilepticar
with yet another brake/accelerator. [bungston, Aug 28 2006]
[link]
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//We always see on the news accidents of old people driving off the roof of parking buildings because they hit the gas instead of the brake.// |
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Um...do we? Even seeing that this may be an incredibly frequent event, I think the normal response to something coming dangerously close or in front of a car, is to slam on something very hard with one's foot (hopefully they find the brake pedal). I feel pulling would be somewhat counterintuitive and that someone can press down harder than they can pull up. |
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//We always see on the news accidents of old people driving off the roof of parking buildings because they hit the gas instead of the brake.// |
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Never heard of this happening, not once, ever. Do "parking buildings" in your area of the world not have good, strong, old fashioned walls to stop people from driving off?? |
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I think the idea not to be that workable too, in my opinion of course ;-) |
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I think it would be intuitive, but not practical. |
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Now, if you had a pedal that you could pull back on to reverse your car, along with a normal brake pedal, that would get my vote. |
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Yeah, that would be pretty sweet. |
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I got to drive a car that had the accelerator and brakes hooked to the steering column/wheel. It was set up to pull back on the steering wheel to go fast, push forward to brake. I really liked it, and often wished I could make other cars work the same way. |
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But, the people who now own the vehicle had to rig a brake pedal to get anyone else to drive it. |
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Oh, and when I and other folks tried driving that car in reverse, we always got confused. |
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How about taking the driver's license away from these people, so they will not kill somebody. |
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I was at DMV last week to renew my driver's license. There was an old man who, when his name was called, was completely confused. He just stood their with a desperate expression. I told him "I think they want you to go over there" and he trucked away and left with a new license, but I later regretted this. This man should not have been allowed to renew his license. |
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We do not allow driving while being intoxicated, but older people with bygone driving skills are allowed to drive until kill someone and beyond that. I'm sure it is painful to lose your license and be confronted with the fact that you lost the ability to drive safely, but an accident can cause pain that is much greater. |
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Perhaps a periodical retest for driving skills of people over 70 would not be a bad idea. "Slot Brakes" are not the solution. |
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In my "Epilepticar: idea, the single pedal
accelerates if you lift it from below with
the top of your foot. If you cease to lift
the pedal comes down and the car
brakes. |
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//It's understandable, it might get a little confusing for the old, as well as the new, to associate left and right (pedals) with brake and gas.//
I cannot see that this is probable at all. The pedals are used without thinking, after a few hours of driving.
In the same way, I have no trouble in associating the clockwise direction of my steering wheel with turning right. I never look at the bottom of the wheel and think that bit is moving left, and get all confused.
Much more likely is that the *wrong gear* is selected, and the car is driven in the wrong direction against a flimsy or non-existent wall.
After all, any system that periodically (just a few times a day) requires the user to push forwards to go backwards, and then visually check that the correct setting is selected, is just asking for trouble. |
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[jmwv], in the UK we have just such a re-test. I think it is required every three years from your 70th birthday. |
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