Occasionally there’s a story in the news about an automobile accident caused when a driver mistakenly steps on the accelerator instead of the brake. The most disastrous of these occurred in 2003 when ten people were killed and 63 injured at a farmers market in Santa Monica. This month here in San Diego, another such event was reported: a 91-year-old driver died from injuries sustained when his vehicle plunged down a ravine at Cabrillo National Monument after he accidentally stepped on the gas instead of the brake – twice. Yes, after his foot accidentally slipped from the brake to the gas, the poor man was so flustered he hit the gas again. Nearly all of these tragic incidents involve older drivers, but another occurrence here in San Diego in 2007 involved a 25-year-old woman demonstrating that young drivers can also make this error.

Tragedies of this sort are caused by the common practice of using the right foot for both gas and brake pedals in automatic transmission vehicles, while the left foot and leg does nothing. Of course, this is a holdover from the days when the left foot was used for the clutch and right foot worked both gas and brake pedals. This is what all drivers have been taught, even with automatic transmissions now standard on the great majority of cars and trucks in America.

I would like to suggest that motorists be taught to use both feet – right for the gas and left for the brake – instead of just one. As a driver who learned on, and drove, manual transmission cars for years before ever sitting in a vehicle with automatic transmission, I began doing this as a way to work both legs rather than just one. But, I have come to think that this simple change, if employed as a matter of course, could save much injury and property damage - and even many lives. Very simply, one would virtually never mistake the gas pedal for the brake and would never have to worry about foot slippage from the brake pedal to the accelerator.

I suggest that driver education classes, drivers’ manuals and private schools of driving begin making this change immediately. For veteran drivers, re-learning to do this could take some time and extra effort, especially for older drivers. But, considering the potentially disastrous alternative - and the increasing distractions drivers are subjected to - please consider the worth of this suggestion.