What should he have done?

[cairo94507]

Very frightening situation I am sure. I am glad you are recovering from the accident. It is my sincere hope that you seek the medical treatment required to hopefully prevent seizures in the fiture; regardless, I hope you do not get behind the wheel of a car again until you have been seizure free for at leasta few years.
On a side note, I can't imagine the liability you would suffer if you now drove, seized and killed/injured someone!

[richard schumacher]

Yes, trying to think in such a circumstance is difficult, and three seconds feels like an eternity. I'd have to go with trying to shift to Neutral:
- shutting OFF the car removes the power steering
- trying to reach the brake pedal leaves that person unprotected in the case of a crash

A hand operated parking brake on the center console could be a lifesaver. Maybe Toyota should try real hard to find a way to put it there, as in so many other modern cars.

[Tchou]

Originally Posted by tnthub

If the foot could not be removed from the gas pedal the only things to do would be to put the car in neutral and pray the rev limiter kept the engine from blowing,

Try to step on the accelerator while on Neutral...
the engine won't blow... it just won't do nothing.

[David Beale]

Yes, either "P" or "Neutral" would stop the car from accelerating. There would be no risk of further mechanical damage to the car. So this would limit the speed of the collision. Even 10 MPH makes a big difference in a collision.

So for future reference, press either button and hold on! Unfortunatly, in these kinds of events it's hard to think of these "different" reactions. Our first automatic response is to go for the brake pedal. I experienced an incident many years ago of a stuck down accelerator pedal (in a "normal" car). The correct action would have been to turn off the key. It took me about 5 seconds to figure that out. Lucky in my case nothing bad happened.

Glad you survived.

[Barcelona Red Lass]

Originally Posted by jendbbay

I was driving my family home from short stay in the mountains.We were down in the flatlands and in a city zone, as opposed to a more rural straightaway. I had a seizure that caused me to become completely rigid and to floor the car. I have no memory of this. My husband realized that I must be having a seizure or a stroke and tried to remove my leg/foot from the gas pedal. He couldn't break it loose. We crashed into and broke down a light pole at 70MPH, careened across two or more lanes of traffic flew across some decorative rock garden and landed in a right angle of a chain link fence that we broke.

So here is the question. Should he have turned off the car instead of pulling on my leg and bracing for a crash? I am the only injured party and my injury is serious. It is a broken tibia plateau. There are other, worse complications to deal with, but I do have a great prognosis.

I am finally able to ask this question after four months of recovery. I have a long way to go. In many,many ways we were extraordinarily lucky. My husband and son were not hurt. I did not die. We hit no other people or cars. Still, it leaves me wondering. I'm mainly asking for the benefit of others. I won't be driving without anti-seizure meds!

Unfortunately, my first suggestion would be to have your husband not let you drive, ever, whether he's in the car or not.

[Qlara]

Your husband already did a good job for handling this (No one died in-car or outside).
As no one ever prepared for such situation, and no one can ever thought of these much details on how to shut down the car in such 'split-second' urgency.

Like others suggested, pressing the PARK button is feasible (or easier) in such emergency. It's extremely hard (indeed MORE risky) for the passenger to intervene to try pressing your Brake padel because of the seat belt he/she already fastened.

So the best action is probably just press the "P" to cut its acceleration and focus on the steering to find something 'safer' (non-human object) to crash into/slow down the car....

Hope you get well sooner.

[rxcrider]

Good luck with the leg. Find a good surgeon (one that will start PT ASAP - within a week of surgery if possible) and it should come out like this.

[bac]

Originally Posted by jendbbay

A smashed, mashed, crushed tibia plateau is no small side effect, so you won't catch me complaining about the meds. Talk about preaching to the choir!

Wow - first off, I'm glad that you both survived the accident. Wow.

FYI, I've had the same injury as you - a fractured tibial plateau on the medial (inside) of my tibia. I'm guessing that your fracture is much worse than mine. Mine did not require surgery, and I was walking again in 6 weeks. I was back to normal in about another 8 weeks. I feel lucky that I was able to recover fully

Good luck on your recovery/physical therapy. I don't think there was much that could have been done in your situation. Recover as best you can, and be thankful (I'm sure your are) that you both survived.

... Brad

[bac]

Originally Posted by Barcelona Red Lass

Unfortunately, my first suggestion would be to have your husband not let you drive, ever, whether he's in the car or not.

If you had read the entire thread, you would have seen this from the OP:

"I do not have a seizure disorder per se. There were absolutely NO warnings. I have a brain tumor, low grade, with good prognosis. I am now completely seizure free on anti-seizure meds. I did not know I had anything wrong, let alone a brain tumor. Thankfully, there is an extremely effective treatment for me, once I can walk again.

The idea that I would drive without anti seizure meds now is so ridiculous, I will assume something was just unclear in my original message. By the way, I have met many people who ARE driving around without anti-seizure meds because they don't like the side effects of the drug. A smashed, mashed, crushed tibia plateau is no small side effect, so you won't catch me complaining about the meds. Talk about preaching to the choir!"

... Brad

[FL_Prius_Driver]

Originally Posted by jendbbay

So here is the question. Should he have turned off the car instead of pulling on my leg and bracing for a crash?

No. Here are some things to consider.
1) Fastening and wearing the seatbelts was the most important thing compared to everything else. If this was the case, then 99% of the right stuff was done before the event.
2) Preparing for impact is critical for not having the airbags injure the passengers and drivers. Much worse things could have happened if the airbags deployed with anyone grossly out of position. The story would have a worse outcome if he were positioned in front of you at impact.
3) It is very unlikely that he could have held the power button down for three seconds when going off the highway. It is a battle just to hold on to the steering wheel when off the pavement (This I know firsthand)...and there is nothing to grip around the button.

It is possible that some different action could have resulted in a better outcome, but nobody is in a position to know that. Focus on the stuff that you did right-safe car, driving safely before the incident, seat belts on (hopefully) while driving. This is as good as anyone can reasonably do.