Driver Calls Police When Cruise Control Gets Stuck At 120 mph

[matcom]

<snip>

PARIS -- A motorist in France went a little faster than he wanted when he claimed his cruise control got stuck, leaving him barreling down a busy highway at 120 mph and forcing police to help clear a route.

The Le Parisien newspaper quoted Hicham Dequiedt saying he was overtaking a truck when his Renault Vel Satis started to accelerate with a life of its own. He couldn't cut the ignition, he said, because his car has a magnetic card instead of a key.

"It was impossible to slow down! Stomping on the brakes proved pointless, nothing worked. I avoided one car after another by flashing my lights at them," the 29-year-old was quoted as saying.

Dequiedt managed, however, to alert police on his mobile phone. Messages warning other motorists of the danger were flashed up on screens that straddle the highway and over a traffic radio station, Le Parisien said.

Finally, as he was bearing down on a toll booth, Dequiedt said he finally managed to bring the car to a halt -- having raced down some 125 miles of highway between Vierzon and Riom in central France.

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3783378/detail.html

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. My accelerator got stuck once when I was in high school.

Flew down a 45 mile an hour street at about 90. Scariest day of my life. :hi:

[demnan]

2. That's an awful experience!

Glad it's never happened to me! It's good he had the presence of mind to alert the police.

[fsbooks]

3. I'll have to remember this next time I'm in a hurry

:-)

[Demit]

4. Aha! I never could bring myself to trust cruise control!

Giving control over your car to an automatic device that can malfunction. So your foot won't get tired? Nah, that's okay...

I've gotten used to my automatic windows, but I would have stayed with the rolling-my-own ones if they still had em.

[kick-ass-bob]

5. 2 Words:

Emergency Brake.

I wouldn't be afraid to use it right there.

[frylock]

6. 3 more words:

shift into neutral.

[TommyO]

7. Neutral was my thought as well...

it's an option whether the driver had a manual or automatic transmission - I'm surprised the police didn't suggest it when the problem was called in!