No Atta' boy from me.

We train ourselves to deal with certain emergencies but not others. When faced with the unknown... most people look for guidance. The guy probably thought to himself, "OMG, what should I do?" and then "I know, I'll call for help".

When the adrenaline kicks in, the IQ goes down for many people.

I can imagine that, if I had tried everything else and failed to stop/slow the car, then I might pick up the phone and scream for help.

But that would have been after;

1] Pumping the accelerator a few times, see if the jam releases.

2] If not, (or at the same time with my left foot), pumping the brake pedal.

3] If they fail, knock the gear shift into neutral.

4] Last gasp, turn the engine off.

Only then, when everything has failed, would I search for the phone to order a pizza.

Question!

In the UK most cars are manual shift so there is no problem kicking the gear shift into neutral. But for the small %age of cars we have that are automatic, we have always been told not to change gear from Drive whilst moving, as that could damage the gear box.

Is that right? Not that it would worry me if I was hurtling along the freeway trying to avoid other traffic whilst attempting to slow down, but is there a mechanism that protects the gearbox from accidental gear shifting out of Drive?

Mark

I don't want to test this but think today's auto-trannys are smarter than those of old. I don't think it's possible to shift into reverse while traveling at speed. As for down/upshifting with an automatic, I do that all the time and haven't killed on yet. You just be careful to drop one gear at a time. Since I learned with a manual and drove nearly 10 years before using an automatic regularly, I developed a couple of habits that I still carry today. One is to downshift to use engine drag and save the brakes. The other is that I still use both feet...one for gas and the other for braking. I cannot comfortably use one foot for both. My current company car is a Chrysler with 6 speed auto tranny. When approaching a zone with a lower speed limit, I will drop down a gear or two rather than use brakes as today's cars don't seem to have the same engine drag as those of old.

... I was driving my mum's car (A late 80's Ford Tempo with automatic transmission at that time). I was used to driving a standard (manual shift) pickup at that time.

Starting from a stoplight, the car was lagging, so without giving it a thought, I stepped on the nonexistent clutch pedal, and threw the shifter located between the front seats into the next gear as I would if I was shifting from first to second gear. The shifter slid into neutral without me having to push the release button on the side of the shift handle, and stopped before it could go into reverse. The engine revved up but did not appear to be harmed.

I still drive standard shift to this day so I can't speak to modern cars, but I believe most cars can be shifted into neutral with little harm befalling a well maintained engine, as long as one doesn't insist on revving the gas for a long period in the neutral gear.

"I'm trying to control the car"

Either something, (traffic conditions?), was making him concentrate on nothing but steering, or he was not used to driving at speed and had no confidence at all.

I agree, I think he was panicking. Not altogether unexpected perhaps under the circumstances, but 80 mph is not usually an excessive speed where you would lose all control of your faculties and eperience.

Mark

He can make a 911 call but can't reach shift lever? I suppose he could have been using a "hands free" phone but if he had it shoved in his ear and was steering with one hand....and I think the trooper might know the answer to that one....I can't see that trying to control the car was a valid excuse.