Are there any research on making the brake and accelerator more different so that people are less likely to step on the wrong control in a panic? This design flaw has caused many accidents in the past, yet nobody seems to be addressing the issue. Surely someone could come up with a better user interface??
In this regard, motorcycle's brake and accelerator are better designed. You never hear a motorcyclist accidentally "step on the gas" when he/she wants to stop.
No matter how you design it, stupid people will still hit the wrong pedal, then sue everyone in sight rather than admit that they're stupid.
Maybe if a plastic or metal plate was put between the pedals so that a person couldn't lift their leg over it easily in order to use the wrong pedal? LOL!
JazzMan
Had a crazy professor in college suggest a simple idea to reduce the number of traffic accidents.... Remove seatbelts, airbags and all that safty crap, then insert into th ecenter of the steering wheel a very sharp barbed spike that extends towards a persons chest depending on the speed being driven, so at 5 MPH it may well stay within the wheel, but at 70 its just inches away, and at 90 its actually touching skin, that way in the event the driver does something stupid the result is death, hence the action won't be repeated, and knowledge of impending death according to unsafe driving will encourage more people to keep their heads out of their asses and drive... Course you would have to add in for other variable like cell phone(adds a few inches) rapid lane changes (adds a few inches) and an overall "moronic driving" detection system to also add a few inches, and keep data based on each driver so if they have a history of moronic driving they automatically start the car with a longer spike.....
So that explains why so many people lean over away from the steering wheel while they drive.
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