[Samwise]

Very long, sad story.

[UNGN]

Yeah, It's too bad the police aren't there to save all of us from ourselves.

The Granddaughter asks "where were the police". Where the hell was she? She could have been carting granny around to her appointments. Maybe even rushed her to the hospital when she stroked out.

Thank God granny didn't kill any innocents. Maybe if she was wearing a seat belt (I don't know anyone over 70 who does), she wouldn't have died of head injuries.

[Iris7]

Autos are inherently dangerous. At sixty five miles per hour a human being has twenty times the kinetic energy of a rifle bullet. At the same speed a car has the kinetic energy as a 57 mm World War Two anti-tank gun projectile.

Sixty five miles and hour is about half the speed a person hits the ground after falling through the sky for miles.

By the way, how were the police, assuming they could get there in the five minute window available, going to stop her?

[eno_]

"We're damned if we do, we're damned if we don't. We will be charbroiled for chasing the speeding motorist and charbroiled for not pursuing the speeding motorist," Bursten said.

Ha ha ha. Didn't raise enough revenue to actually attend to a safety matter. Char broiled is right.

[Uncle Sausage]

Isn't a 1995 Lincoln at least as heavy and dangerous as an ESUV?

[JudyB1938]

I am so sick and tired of old people. I have felt that way all of my life. They are absolutely ridiculous in how they think they are the same people they were when they were young. We were behind some old geezer on the highway yesterday. He was driving so erratic, it was if he were drunk. He wasn't. He was just OLD!

BTW, I will be 66 in a couple of months - so I DO have room to talk. Plus, I took my own advice and quite driving two years ago when it became apparent my eyesight and reflexes just were not GOOD ENOUGH. My ego or inconvenience pales in the light of killing some young person who has an entire life ahead.

I'm against "they oughta pass a law" usually - but they'd BETTER tighten up the reigns on old people driving. There's more and more of them every year, so there's going to be many more fatalities if they aren't FORCED to stay off the roads.

[Imal]

I am trying to imagine how our unfortunate driver could be able to keep her foot on the gas pedal enough to keep a vehicle moving (not at top speed, apparently), but unable to move it three inches in any other direction, or shift her weight to do so, even while turning the wheel enough to keep the vehicle on the road, drive several miles this way, suffer an eventually fatal head injury, and someone was able to figure all this out afterwards.

You can't make this stuff up, although some aspects of the story do indeed bear the aroma of artistic license.

It is a bizarre story, and the premise of this article, that somehow the highway patrol is responsible for this astronomically unlikely mishap, is absurd and an insult to the highway patrol as well as the reader.

My sympathies for the driver and her family, but I cannot imagine, if I was the driver, that I could reasonably expect someone to come along and save me if I became unable to control my vehicle. This is the real world, not a Marvel comic book.

Gimme a freakin' brake.

[cherry]

"fallen ill "

ah, yes....the soft landing....

she just got sick right before she entered the busy highway....

I would venture a guess that this lady, nice older lady that she may be, has had recurring medical problems for some time....

memory loss?...poor mobility?...poor eyesight?....reflexes shot?...

maybe she has had recurring angina attacks or TIA's...

If this lady was 23 instead of 73, we wouldn't be saying that she fell "ill"...we would be having her blood alcohol level checked and a drug screen run on her.. and if nothing showed up, we would rush to condemn the lazy, inattentive youthfulness and try to enact more laws to stop her.....

BTW...the elderly population is notorious for their use of many pain killers....

I would love to see a breakdown on that....

I just get sick of the hypocrisy when it comes to evaluating drivers....you just can not do anything wrong when your elderly....but if you're 20, look out, they throw the book at you.....( I have two whole tickets in my entire life so this is not sour grapes)

[Lancey Howard]

Unable to take her foot off the gas pedal

Bull.

[cameronsmom]

Driving is a privilege. The state should be able to calculate the ages of people involved in accidents, and adjust manditory drivers tests accordingly.

[SuziQ]

State Police First Sgt. Dave Bursten said troopers were in a "no-win situation."

Just what did those folks expect the police to do in this situation? The woman is flying down the highway and can't take her foot off the gas pedal. Is an officer supposed to pull in front of her car to stop her? That would probably have resulted in two deaths! I'm sorry the lady died in the crash, but thankful she didn't take anyone else with her.