And that's what I'll tell the judge.
Nov. 21st, 2008 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgWhen we arrived home after Quantum of Solace my happiness was somewhat tempered by the discovery that one of my headlights had blown. That's one bit of maintenance I couldn't let slide, so I rationed some spoons to see to the job today.
All went relatively well; I called a local electrical place who had dealt nicely with a failed alternator a while ago, found it again, and negotiated the tricky yard. I did not squash the apprentice who emerged from the dark garage as I pulled in to the work area out of the sun, nor did I strike any of the curiously-positioned vehicles stacked about the place. Go me.
However...
We've all heard stories where a driver--usually elderly--has ploughed through a crowd or a shopfront because they "mistook the accelerator pedal for the brake". On the surface of it, most people dismiss this as an example of an old confused person who shouldn't be on the road *shakes fist*. But there is another way that this can happen, and I once was enrolled in a Master of Science* degree to study it. Granted I only got as far as the proposal stage, but the topic remained a hobby.
Get on with it.
OK. Capture errors. The errors you make when attempting a behaviour that is similar to--but not quite the same as--a well-practiced behaviour. It's how your car drives itself to the shops when you meant to go somewhere else. It's how you find yourself in the kitchen staring into the open fridge when you meant to grab the salt. It's how you perform a regular maintenance action instead of performing a slightly different sequence to respond to an emergency in a nuclear power plant.
i.e. You do the right thing at the wrong time. Force of habit. Automatic pilot. Oops. You can't stop yourself from closing the car door even after you've seen your keys in the ignition. It's nothing to do with dementia.
Get on with it.
OK, cut to the chase. After The Nice Man replaced my headlight globe, he suggested we do a brake light test. I hit the accelerator instead of the brake. Fortunately for all, the Catmobile was in netural and had the handbrake on, but I still made that error and revved the engine with potential targets/victims in front and behind.
Why? Well, my interpretation is that when stationary, it's a much more practiced action--and thus a capture error--to press the accelerator rather than the brake. Could have been bad, but fortunately wasn't. But that is how quite a few accidents happen. People don't "forget"; they remember too well for their own good.
(*) Mostly because I liked the sound of it.
All went relatively well; I called a local electrical place who had dealt nicely with a failed alternator a while ago, found it again, and negotiated the tricky yard. I did not squash the apprentice who emerged from the dark garage as I pulled in to the work area out of the sun, nor did I strike any of the curiously-positioned vehicles stacked about the place. Go me.
However...
We've all heard stories where a driver--usually elderly--has ploughed through a crowd or a shopfront because they "mistook the accelerator pedal for the brake". On the surface of it, most people dismiss this as an example of an old confused person who shouldn't be on the road *shakes fist*. But there is another way that this can happen, and I once was enrolled in a Master of Science* degree to study it. Granted I only got as far as the proposal stage, but the topic remained a hobby.
Get on with it.
OK. Capture errors. The errors you make when attempting a behaviour that is similar to--but not quite the same as--a well-practiced behaviour. It's how your car drives itself to the shops when you meant to go somewhere else. It's how you find yourself in the kitchen staring into the open fridge when you meant to grab the salt. It's how you perform a regular maintenance action instead of performing a slightly different sequence to respond to an emergency in a nuclear power plant.
i.e. You do the right thing at the wrong time. Force of habit. Automatic pilot. Oops. You can't stop yourself from closing the car door even after you've seen your keys in the ignition. It's nothing to do with dementia.
Get on with it.
OK, cut to the chase. After The Nice Man replaced my headlight globe, he suggested we do a brake light test. I hit the accelerator instead of the brake. Fortunately for all, the Catmobile was in netural and had the handbrake on, but I still made that error and revved the engine with potential targets/victims in front and behind.
Why? Well, my interpretation is that when stationary, it's a much more practiced action--and thus a capture error--to press the accelerator rather than the brake. Could have been bad, but fortunately wasn't. But that is how quite a few accidents happen. People don't "forget"; they remember too well for their own good.
(*) Mostly because I liked the sound of it.
