Video: Woman mistakes brake for accelerator and plows into front of gold shop injuring two

[webfact]

CCTV screenshot

 

Kanchanadit police in Surat Thani, southern Thailand, were called after a Thai female driver put her foot down on the accelerator when she meant the brake. 

 

CCTV footage at 4.25 pm Thursday from an area outside the Kanchanadit market showed a Honda City car plow into the Pa Siri gold shop next to Krung Thai bank.

 

The driver gets out amid much screaming and shattering of glass. 

 

The front of the gold shop was badly damaged as the car drove in at speed.

 

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The driver and shop owner were both injured though the car driver declined hospital treatment for a head injury saying she'll go later.

 

Shop owner 52 year old Kornrat Somsuk had a hand injury.

 

The driver of the car was given the assumed name of Nam by Thai Rath. She said she mixed up the brake and the accelerator. 

 

She was charged with negligent driving causing damage.

 

The damage will be taken care of by insurance, said the media. 

 

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[edwinchester]

<deleted> me that was some mix-up alright.

[Andre0720]

Geez, this may sound sexist...

But when 'someone' touches a pedal wanting to brake, and a car accelerates instead, would not this 'someone' very quickly move that foot away??

[actonion]

Obviously her brain was'nt in gear 

[Will B Good]

It would be of interest to know for how long she has been driving.

 

As I have mentioned on here before, my wife first drove a car on a Monday and 'passed' her driving test on the Tuesday.

[KannikaP]

The other road users were very lucky.

[Geoffggi]

This is a mistake one COULD make when first learning to drive not when issued with a licence to drive on the road allegedly safely ............LOL

[Will B Good]

4 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

The other road users were very lucky.

Could have been three/four sat in the gold shop......all wiped out in an instant....

[JeffersLos]

She certainly stamped on the 'brake'.

 

What was the man pointing at at 0:22?

 

In case anyone coming to investigate the smashing sound didn't see the car protruding out of the gold shop window?

[Will B Good]

4 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

What was the man pointing at at 0:22?

555....now that is advanced pointing....not like the staged efforts from the BiB.

[Iamfalang]

Why is this news????

 

I see this every Saturday!    Then the lady sues the gold shop because her car is scratched.  Bank repos the car, expensive to fix the gold shop.  Fixed by Friday!

 

Then Saturday comes and it happens again and again and again.    

 

It's a very common mistake.   muscle memory is a scam.   If you hit the accelerator 10 times, you win the lottery! 

[Denim]

Easily done. Sat on somebodies motorcycle the other day. Mistook it for my car and nearly rode off before noticing my error.

[toofarnorth]

Does make one wonder what she is doing in a car , obviously has no idea about driving at all. The speed of the thing crossing the road.   If that was my wife tomorrow she would be my ex.

I hope she never gets back in a car for the local's sake.

[oxo1947]

My wife did the same--she was taking driving lessons in Pattaya about 15 years ago.  Panicked stamped on the accelerator when a high set tourist bus pulled out in front of her,  nearly went under it, what a mess. She was really shaken up when she got home.

I got a phone call the next day--asking if I would pay for all the damages. I said your a driving school,  dont you have insurance? she said they did but the company manager would prefer it if I paid instead.

 

I had to seek medical help on the 3rd day to try to stop the giggling..............

[Gottfrid]

Ops! It´s the wrong pedal. Panic and press the foot to the ground. Frozen stage. Kill people. 

[toofarnorth]

3 minutes ago, Denim said:

Easily done. Sat on somebodies motorcycle the other day. Mistook it for my car and nearly rode off before noticing my error.

Like the one I heard about 50 years ago about the chap on a bike stopping at the lights and falling off. he said ' I forgot I had taken the sidecar off '.

[mvdf]

If this happened in the west, the first thought in everyone's mind would be a robbery in progress. Ramming or crashing a car into a jewellery shop is an established MO of criminals. 

 

Luckily nobody made premature assumptions by shooting or hacking her to bits before asking questions. 

 

[Denim]

These sort of accidents are compounded if the car involved is an automatic. The driver has a 50/50 % chance of getting it wrong.

 

In a manual an unskilled driver would only have a 33.3 recurring % of getting it wrong.

[CharlieH]

Did someone tell her it was a "drive-thru" ? ????

[vandeventer]

4 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Could have been three/four sat in the gold shop......all wiped out in an instant....

She had her chance with her mask on to walk out of the gold shop as a wealthy lady.

[RafPinto]

Probably an automatic, 2 pedals.
Imagine she would drive a manual.
She would get lost.

[JimmyJ]

Driving with both feet?

[rwill]

Very lucky no motorcycles happened to be there at that moment.  Would have killed someone.

[Moonlover]

5 hours ago, Will B Good said:

It would be of interest to know for how long she has been driving.

 

As I have mentioned on here before, my wife first drove a car on a Monday and 'passed' her driving test on the Tuesday.

Mine took a little longer than that. Started lessons on Monday, passed her test on Thursday and received her license on Friday. A few months later, whilst driving in through the gate, she got the same two pedals confused and rammed the car into a wall.

 

She hasn't driven since thank goodness. I'm not knocking Thai women drivers by the way. My former Indian wife was just as useless at driving.

 

I sure know how to pick 'em!

[richard_smith237]

The poor control of vehicles and accidents due to ‘brake / accelerator’ pedal confusion are alarmingly common here. 

 

Why? - because no one is taught how to drive a car. 

People are taught by their spouse, friend or family member and if they were never taught themselves they are simply passing along bad advice. 

 

In these cases people are taught left foot for brake, right foot for accelerator. 

Then, when something happens and they panic they plant both feet down.

 

Efforts ‘could be made’ to educate people on a few simple issues: 

 

A couple of key pointers on TV adverts between soaps at prime time.

- Wear helmets on motorcycles

- Use seatbelts

- Put kids in car seats

- Accelerator / brake use (right foot only).

- Stopping at pedestrian crossings

- Stopping at amber lights (and red of course)

- Not overtaking on a blind bend

- Drink driving risks

 

 

[wombat]

i always expected their front windows to be thick laminated glass to foil a ram raid

[wombat]

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

people are taught left foot for brake, right foot for accelerator. 

thats scary

[mrfill]

7 hours ago, Andre0720 said:

Geez, this may sound sexist...

But when 'someone' touches a pedal wanting to brake, and a car accelerates instead, would not this 'someone' very quickly move that foot away??

No - they press harder trying to get the brakes to work...

[richard_smith237]

28 minutes ago, mrfill said:

No - they press harder trying to get the brakes to work...

Yep... exactly this.

 

IF ever we’ve been in the situation at traffic lights etc when the car next to us starts rolling backwards... its a strange sensation for second, for split second we feel as though we are rolling forwards... we apply extra pedal on the brake pedal out of instinct.

 

This is what happens here.... They are confused, applying pressure to the wrong pedal, and apply ‘harder’....  

 

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, wombat said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

people are taught left foot for brake, right foot for accelerator. 

thats scary

Indeed - obviously not everyone....   but I imagine there are quite a number of drivers out there using left foot for brake, right foot for accelerator....   when the untrained / inexperienced panic, this is the result. 

 

Or, as we have often seen (videos on this forum), someone reverses through the wall off a 5 story tall car-park !!!