Older, Younger: Who's Worse At The Wheel?

While we wait for word on the cause of a 76-year old Wisconsin woman's alleged runaway Toyota Camry incident,  here are some interesting statistics on age and accidents.

TheAutoInsurance.com finds that more teens per capita are involved in fatal crashes, but more elderly drivers are at fault.  Graphic and facts here.

Unanimous: Harrison, NY PD Agrees: Driver Error, Not Unintended Acceleration

The one on the right is the gas pedal. The one on the left is the brake pedal. The chief of the Harrison, New York Police Department says, yep...the 55 year old woman who crashed her Toyota Prius hybrid into a stone wall two weeks ago...the one he said couldn't have been driver error at the time.....was, well, driver error, the most common cause of fully investigated unintended acceleration incidents.

Captain Anthony Marracccini says his department's investigation confirms what Toyota and the NHTSA's found...that the throttle was wide-open at the time of impact...with no sign of any application of the brake.

AP story via The Detroit News here. Conversations among Prius drivers on the PriusChat forums.

Harrison, NY Police To Announce "Runaway Prius" Findings This Afternoon

Yes, we know...in fact, we told you on Friday...the NHTSA says the 55-year old woman whose Prius crashed into a wall in the NYC suburb had her foot on the gas, not the brake.

But instead of saying..."yeah...what the feds say....", the Harrison PD plans to announce their own findings this afternoon. It should be interesting, given that the police chief started by ruling out driver error at the scene two weeks ago, then amended his position to a definite maybe last week, before the NHTSA announced the results of its investigation.

The PriusChat forums are talking about it here.

Memo From 2007 Details Toyota's "Game Plan" For Dealing With Feds About Floor Mat Issue

A three-year old document just released by a Congressional committee gives insight into Toyota officials and their self-described "game plan" for dealing with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's growing concerns over floor mats interfering with accelerator pedals.

Interesting reading, to say the least. Full story from The Detroit News here.

UPDATE: NY Prius Case Human Error

NHTSA says the Toyota Prius driven into a wall by a 55 year old woman in Harrison, New York last week did not experience sudden acceleration. Investigators say their technical analysis of the vehicle show the throttle was open and no brakes were being applied.

That's what's called human error...and as we reported last week, that's the most common finding once investigators dig into allegations of unintended acceleration.

So it's two down as Toyota battles back against sensational stories of Priuses that allegedly defied driver attempts to stop.

Full story from The Detroit News here and discussion on the Prius Chat forums here.

UPDATE: UK Trucker With Renault On His Front Bumper

SKYNews has confirmed that the video is real and that the trucking company, Arclid Transport, is investigating. Arclid tells SKY that the woman driving the Renault Clio "got out and walked away".

And thanks also to the wonders of YouTube, we can show you exactly how such a thing can happen. Press play on this video:

VIDEO: UK Trucker Unaware He Has A Renault On His Front Bumper

According to the YouTube poster, this was on the A1 highway near Wetherby. Date unknown. Working to find confirmation from UK news sources. Meantime, it's incredible video.

Story Of The Year: Car Crash Leaves Woman In Persistent State of Sexual Arousal

Forget the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies. This is the automotive story people will be talking about the most as 2009 draws to a close.

From Jalopnik. Though the original, significantly less smart-alecky version, including an interview with Joleen Baughman can be found on the KOAT-TV Albuquerque website.