Can someone explain why we don’t have a better design to prevent car pedal mixups? There have been so many accidents in my country with serious casualties.
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Leaving aside all accessories, we have 3 to 4 essential driving inputs we need to be able to manage at all times to drive: steering, throttle, brake and, where applicable, clutch. Let’s just say gear changes don’t typically apply in a mixup scenario.
So we have 3-4 functions, of which throttle and brake are either/or inputs, unless we’re talking about very spirited driving. So, hands for steering, one foot for throttle or brake, one for clutch. The design doesn’t prevent from braking with left on automatics. Whatever change you make, it’s either minor or would imply switching one of the driving inputs over to the second hand, leaving only one to steer.
No matter what function you assign to which limb, you can’t bypass the need for the motor coordination to deal with 3+ independent activities, unless we’re talking about automation. If one mixes up foot position in panic, why wouldn’t they mix up pulling a lever with pushing it, for example?
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