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When Car Accelerator Sticks




A police dispatcher from Green Bay helped save a Wisconsin teenager when her gas pedal stuck, all caught in 911 audio.

Olivia Crooks, 16, said she left her high school parking lot in her car on Tuesday afternoon and then realized she had lost control of the vehicle.



It was a harrowing experience that lasted 7 to 10 minutes for the young driver who has had her license since January.

"I heard a crack," Crooks told local TV station WLUK in Green Bay. "My gas pedal got stuck so I tried to press my brake to see if I could stop my car but I could not."

"First of all, I think Olivia did an amazing job," Robak told ABC News. "I have two 14-year-old twins. I give her credit at 16 for being as calm as she was, calling 911, going to an area that was not so busy, and trusting in the fact that I was doing everything I could to help her."

Crooks headed to a cul-de-sac, where she hoped she could drive in circles until the car ran out of gas. But once Crooks told Robak the car was an automatic vehicle, the dispatcher told the teen to shift the car to "neutral."


"Don’t pump the brakes," Robak said as general advice to those in a similar situation with an automatic transmission. "You should press them."

Robak advised Crooks to apply firm, constant pressure, and not to pump the brakes when she was in neutral.

Though the tires began to smoke, eventually the car stopped and Crooks was not injured. Robak said the call lasted no more than 3 minutes.

Crooks' mother, Lori, told WLUK, "I am so thankful today."

"It could've been a lot worse than it was," Lori Crooks said. "I'm just glad it ended up the way it did."

As for Robak's cool head, she credits her training with the Brown County Public Safety.

"I think our center does wonderful things with training and preparing us to take these kind of calls. I also have a great team that is encouraging and supporting. They never want us to fail. We do the best that we can do," Robak said.

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database shows no complaints about accelerator pedals for the Chrysler PT Cruiser.

A spokesman for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) said in a statement, "FCA US LLC has no reports of any similar occurrence. The Company is relieved no-one was injured and commends the parties involved for their actions.”

Spooky

I swear. There are times when I make a comment or ask a question on here, that there must be some reporter or somebody from CBS as a member here on Gaia. Or maybe it's just coincidence.

The story was featured on the magazine show, Inside Edition, at 7:00pm eastern about this situation (mentioning the girl and everything). The reporter was interviewing an expert on the subject of safety driving or some such (distracted) and the reporter asked the very question about turning off the engine. The safety driver guy confirms that it is a bad idea to turn the engine off. He says that is because that when you do, you will lose your power steering and your power brakes and stuff.

Ah, don't do that! You'll lose your steering!

Definitely just slide that thing into neutral. Your car will get crazy loud and s**t, but it'll slow down and eventually stop.

I think it was the gas pedal that was stuck. So maybe the gas was stronger than the breaks, keeping in mind that breaks are probably not designed to be used at the same time as the gas.

>Chrysler
>PT Cruiser

Two problems located. emotion_awesome