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What would you do if.......
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 7:48PM
This happened to you.
Can't imagine how this guy was feeling but, whilst doing 125mph, still had the coolness to the police. I was puzzled by the fact that cutting the car engine didn't work. I'm not at all familiar with Renault but surely, if you turn off the ignition, the engine stops - doesn't it?
Good job he didn't have a full tank of fuel.
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 7:49PM
Whoops!!
...had the coolness to phone the police.........
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 8:30PM
There should be a lot of compo coming his way which will enable him to buy a decent British built Jaguar.
I seem to remember this happening previously but I think it was in this country. Maybe I am dreaming.
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 8:34PM
Not if it's a diesel, they have been known to keep going even with the ignition off, but from what I have read it does sound as thought it's a fault with the controls that were adapted for a disabled driver.
But I would have thought going down the gear box should have slowed it, or even destroyed the engine allowing it to stop.
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 8:42PM
... similar scenario in the film SPEED, starring Keanue Reeves [the driver] and the late Dennis Hopper [the bomber]; a bus's accelerator pedal is wired to a bomb that is set to go off when the speed of the bus goes below 50 m.p.h. ... I won't tell you what happened ... but it had me on the seat of my pants!
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 8:45PM
Yes I also thought that was possible, but surely the police would have relayed that to him if they were in touch by phone? Why didn't switching off the ignition work. Could he have pulled out all the wiring from beneath the dash? Who knows? know I would have been trying all of the suggested things, but maybe at over 100 MPH it just wasn't feasible.
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 8:45PM
carver
'Not if it's a diesel..'
That's what I thought, but in the piece, perhaps misquoted, it does say when the petrol ran out. The other thought that occurred to me, and it's something else I know very little about, should a driver with epilepsy be driving at all?
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Posted February 15, 2013 at 10:03PM
Did not think you were allowed to drive if you had epilepsy.
My son has it and is not allowed to hold a driving licence.
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Posted Yesterday at 12:57AM
I watched a similar thing happen to a 50ish year old woman in a 4x4 in a repeated 'Cops' program recently. The vehicle was an automatic and she was scared as she talked to the Police escorts clearing a path for her. The ignition wouldn't turn off as it was in 'drive', so that might be a safety feature as the steering wheel would be locked. The gear shift wouldn't go to 'park' or neutral (?) and the brakes were ineffectual. She also survived, but only just, and no one else was hurt, when the 4x4 's engine blew. Very scary to be in that position.
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Posted Yesterday at 8:58AM
It happened to me in the '80s though was, thankfully, easy to deal with. Corrosion caused the throttle link to jam about half open.
Being a manual, I was able to disengage the clutch and use the brakes before turning the ignition off when I stopped. But, for a few seconds, when the engine revs didn't drop when I lifted off, it was pretty scary.
