Dispatcher rescues Wis. teen with stuck accelerator

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A police dispatcher is credited with helping a frantic teen driver who was speeding down a Green Bay street with a stuck gas pedal.

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Crooks heard a crack after she drove out of the Southwest High School parking lot Tuesday. Her vehicle’s accelerator was stuck and her brakes wouldn’t stop the car. Olivia thought the only way she could stop is if she crashed the vehicle. She quickly punched 911 and was connected with dispatcher Julia Robak.

WLUK-TV says Olivia headed for a cul-de-sac where she thought she could drive around in circles until she ran out of gas. Robak credits the teen with taking action in a critical situation.

Robak is trained to handle such situations and had Olivia put the car in neutral. Police arrived and turned off the car.

Is it no longer possible to turn the ignition off???

Time to call and discuss with police but not enough time to consider putting in neutral or turning it off? Me thinks this person should lose license and be required to take more training.

Common sense is all to uncommon!

I think it should be more difficult to get a license than it is, but what 16 year old girl isn’t going to freak out? At least she didn’t just hit something to stop.

I will give the girl credit on this one. Most 16 years girls could have made this situation much worse. She didn’t know what to do so she asked for help.

Tim J wrote:

I will give the girl credit on this one. Most 16 years girls could have made this situation much worse. She didn’t know what to do so she asked for help.

Agreed. This falls more on the drivers ed and parents not teaching what to do in some emergencies.

Things like this should be discussed/tought not only in drivers ed, but also at home. You can’t just teach people to stop at stop signs, and not to speed, they need to be given/shown possible real world experiences and how to react. You can’t teach everything but what you do teach gets their minds thinking more about driving than what radio station to tune to.

I can guarantee if you didn’t grow up around cars you wouldn’t know what to do in that situation either if you weren’t tought.

I completely agree munchy.

I think you’re all overlooking the most disappointing part.

The 911 dispatcher is being called a hero while overlooking the obvious.

What is the obvious? If you turn the ignition off instead of putting it in neutral, you lose the brakes I believe.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

What is the obvious? If you turn the ignition off instead of putting it in neutral, you lose the brakes I believe.

Power steering also won’t work I don’t think.

I think for many it’s easy to say “where’s the common sense?”.

Unfortunately a stuck accelerator pedal is not part of the behind the wheel classes. Fewer kids have grown up on a farm where they might become more experienced.

Just for the heck of it, ask your family members what they would do.

I did. “Emergency brake or turn off car.”

As silly as it sounds to many of us..”Robak is

trained to handle such situations

and had Olivia put the car in neutral.” training or talking about what a person should do might be the only way some folks would know what to do.

I agree with BK. I’m 21 and remember my driver’s ed classes and my behind the wheel training fairly well. I also recall this was near the time of the infamous Toyota issue with stuck accelerator pedals. I actually asked this question to our permit course teacher and my behind the wheel instructor. Neither of them had been asked what to do when an accelerator gets stuck. I know from having once owned a manual transmission car and now owning an automatic, that Neutral is the safest way to go about slowing the car down. You have full power brakes, full power steering, and your electrical system is on for emergency flashers and such. The emergency brake can work if needed, but don’t turn the car off. You become helplessly stuck trying to turn and/or use the brakes with no power assist.

biggill wrote:

I think you’re all overlooking the most disappointing part.

The 911 dispatcher is being called a hero while overlooking the obvious.

Seriously though, what obvious was overlooked?

OK I have been picturing a kid flying down a residential area wondering how she didn’t crash by the time she called 911. Now I reread it and see she was doing donuts in a cul de sac.

There are a lot of things that anyone getting [or having one to keep current] a license should be required to learn. Changing a tire would be one of those and it should be mandatory that they test off on the process.

Know the machine you are operating before you kill somebody.

I’ll admit I’ve overreacted to this story. Ultimately this shouldn’t have ever made it to ink (or Internet).

My only thought is that the obvious solution that the 911 dispatcher overlooked was to shut the vehicle off.

Put myself in the car and I’d bet my first reaction would be a complete unknown. Put myself in the dispatchers position, I’m confident that I would have told her to turn it off.

Turn the car off and you not only lose power steering and brakes, but it is very likely going to lock the steering wheel in place…

Neutral is the answer until the car is stopped. Then turn it off.

suzuki wrote:

Know the machine you are operating before you kill somebody.

Mike, I’m going to bet a quarter there was a time when you didn’t know everything too…but I don’t know that.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Know the machine you are operating before you kill somebody.

Mike, I’m going to bet a quarter there was a time when you didn’t know everything too…but I don’t know that.

I dont care if I am out-voted. I still say you have to be a dumb-$hi* not to know how to stop the car you are driving in the time its takes to make a call and get directions over the phone.

“It was a harrowing experience that lasted 7 to 10 minutes for the young driver who has had her license since January.

At lest she didn’t post on FB asking what to do.

pantherpop wrote:

At lest she didn’t post on FB asking what to do.

We don’t know that.

I have to go to driving school every few years for work. You can slam the shifter forward and it will only go into neutral and not reverse. They teach that for things like hydroplaining so you don’t try to accelerate out of it. That would be the best option for this as well.
DT

She did try snapchatting her friend for help first. Sadly, she missed what to do the first time and the video instructions were lost forever.

um folks, you wont lose brakes with the car off…. you might lose a little brake boost assist, as with the steering too… remember when Power Steering was an option and the brakes consisted of a master cylinder ? (steering wheels haven’t “locked” for years… just try yours !)

agree with shutting key off,she was doing donuts anyway,lost steering is of no issue,and braking effort would of been aided by transmission drag,and braking would have been difficult,but not impossible,this is a law,I know,I work on this stuff.
I say no issue as the electric steering still has a mechanical link between the steering wheel and the tires.
I am glad she is safe,but if she is anything like my 26 year old stepdaughter,I wonder how many times she said the word: like,and or totally??

it would have been better if she shut key off as it would help save the motor,even though it was probably against the rev limiter if it had one,it still isnt good on the engine to stay at maximum revs,dont get me wrong,a life is worth more than the engine any day!!

after raising a daughter,I have to wonder this though,how is it between the ages of thirteen and twenty six,they become absolutely retarded??
is there a stupid gene that kicks in during this time??
I know I am not the only one who has experienced this.

Little update to this story. The girl and dispatcher were on tv tonight.

She was doing 60 mph and was explaining to the dispatcher that using her brake would slow her to 25-30.

When she got out of the car the wheels were smoking.

****

Thanks for the tip on hydroplaning DT. 40 years of driving and I didn’t know that.