20 bucks says....

[Little Raven]

Investigations reveal there's nothing wrong with the brakes.

A sport utility vehicle jumped a curb and plowed into a group of middle school students waiting for a bus, authorities said.

Three teenagers were in intensive care Thursday.

About half a dozen children were hit, including several who were trapped under the SUV when it struck a tree outside Ralston Middle School on Wednesday, Police Lt. Dan DeSmidt said.

...

A woman who identified herself as Mauro Yan's wife but would not give her name told the San Francisco Chronicle her 70-year-old husband was driving, and that he thought the SUV's brakes had failed.

Perhaps...but unlikely.

At the scene, investigators combed through debris, including the SUV's front grill and discarded sneakers and backpacks. They noted the absence of skid marks that would have indicated the driver tried to stop, but said it was too soon to draw conclusions about what that meant.

"It certainly all falls into the investigation, but at this point we have no cause to believe it was an intentional act," DeSmidt said.

I'm sure it wasn't intentional...but I'm willing to bet it wasn't due to mechanical failure, either.

Any takers?

 

[Rhymes]

Old people have weird reaction when dirving, this is why they should get their licensed removed at a certain point.

One time My dad got rear ended by an old man who confused the break pedal with the gaz pedal. The old man panicked so instead of taking his feet of the gaz (or even breaking!) he floored the gaz pedal, climbed on my dad's trunk, fell on the side and crashed into many other park cars and finnaly stopped jacked on an other car's trunk. When my dad got out, the old guy's car had it's front end jacked up and his wheels were still spinning cuz he still hadn't released the gaz.

Probably something similar happened in this case.

 

[IglooDame]

Not nice offering sucker bets...

But if anyone wants to take LR up on it, I'll double his bet with you too.

 

[Urederra]

Old people have weird reaction when dirving, this is why they should get their licensed removed at a certain point.

Indeed, and so the old baby boomers will start asking for better mass transport systems, like trains and buses.

And I always thought that SUV weren't safer that other vehicles. Yep, maybe safer for the person inside, but for the ones outside?

 

[Jawz II]

Sometimes when people panick, they hit the gas pedal thinking it's the brake.

I always wondered why they can't put the damn thing else where, I'm a big man with big feet, and if I have to drive a small car wearing boots, 1 of my boots more or less covers 2 of the 3 pedals at all times.

 

[MobBoss]

Old people need to be tested for driving skills more often....somewhere in the 70-75 year old range.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Old people need to be tested for driving skills more often....somewhere in the 70-75 year old range.

Yessir. Actually I would extend that to everyone. Once every 10 years.

 

[MobBoss]

Yessir. Actually I would extend that to everyone. Once every 10 years.

No. After age 70, I would say once a year or two. Things can go south in a hurry when you are that old and 10 years is just too long a period to go without a valid test at that age.

 

[mrt144]

Indeed, and so the old baby boomers will start asking for better mass transport systems, like trains and buses.

And I always thought that SUV weren't safer that other vehicles. Yep, maybe safer for the person inside, but for the ones outside?

yeah, baby boomers are really going to have the foresight to stop driving because they pose a risk to others. There should be a subsidization for not driving for old people.

 

[Mise]

If it makes you feel any better, old people have a higher fatality rate from road traffic accidents.

But then again they have a higher fatality rate in general.