Letter: Key to safety

From Ian Duguid

Nic Fleming’s article on the safety issues arising from the increasing computerisation of cars (27 March, p 20) put me in mind of a safety solution based on a close call I once had.

Driving at about 80 kilometres per hour in a snowstorm, I became suddenly aware that the throttle pedal was no longer working and I couldn’t slow down. My options were to force the gear lever into neutral, which would cause the engine to over-rev and perhaps disintegrate, to attempt to use the brakes (if they were working) to stall the car, or to switch off the ignition.

I chose the last option, and managed to coast the car to a halt on the hard shoulder, where I discovered that snow had packed itself behind the throttle lever, preventing it from closing.

Clearly, any of my options would be preferable to the high-speed crashes mentioned in your article. It seems to me that a hard-wired ignition switch is the cheapest and most practical fail-safe for cars that increasingly rely on complicated computer hardware and software.

Worthing, West Sussex, UK