No, can't reach down to put it in neutral, that would be dangerous, might lose control.
The safe thing to do is fumble for your cell phone to make a call and blab on it for ten minutes while you're careening down the highway at 94 miles per hour and purportedly with no way to stop.
Makes perfect sense to me, that's exactly what I'd do, if it ever happens to me. /s
I’m not assuming that this guy’s story is legit. But for people in general, if you have a hands-free phone that you can just push buttons on quickly (don’t even have to get all three digits in the same hand-off-the-wheel moment) that may be a lot easier than shifting gears.
I’m just saying that shifting gears while trying to maintain control of a speeding car is probably harder in real life than it sounds. And I’m not saying one shouldn’t try to shift the gear, but I can see where depending on the circumstances, it maight take a while.
Mr. Sikes’ story is certainly suspicious, especially given the amazing “coincidence” that he had just taken the car into a Toyota dealership and been told the car wasn’t part of the recall. He may well have just bought himself several years of free lodging in prison (at taxpayer expense, naturally).