Virginia driver faces charges after running over himself

[DawnStorm]

Thought I'd take time from a busy day to post this.
https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2018...-over-himself/

I honestly did not think it was possible to run over yourself, but obviously it is.

[WildaBeast]

Someone running themself over just makes me think of Monty Python's "Upper Class Twit of the Year" sketch.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Lainie]

Isn't that essentially how Anton Yelchin died? He wasn't running in front of the car, but he left it idling and it hit and killed him.

[thorny locust]

Back when most cars were standard shift (which is why it was called standard shift) and could be roll started, people would sometimes try to roll start a car on their own without enough hill for the roll, by standing next to the driver's door and pushing the car, and then jumping in once it was moving well and rollstarting it.

If your coordination was up to it, this might actually work. If you slipped at the wrong moment, though . . . I'm a klutz. I occasionally drove cars with starting problems; but I never dared try it.

[Richard W]

I didn't quite grasp what had happened or what the charges were about until watching the video (the charges have nothing to do with his running himself over - that would be evidence, at best). But that is quite impressively inept.

If this is a drawback of automatic gearboxes, will it be worse with self-driving cars? Those might be less likely to run you over once you've got out, but are they even going to try to get you away from the police in the first place?

[WildaBeast]

Originally Posted by Richard W

(he charges have nothing to do with his running himself over - that would be evidence, at best

That's kind of a little thing that annoys me, when newspaper editors write headlines like "Man charged with [crime] after [doing something]". While it may be technically true in the sense that those events did in fact happen in that order, the charges aren't actually related to the thing mentioned in the headline.

[1958Fury]

A coworker's ex-husband died when he stopped the car so he could get out and pee, and the car ran over him.

[Psihala]

Originally Posted by Richard W

I didn't quite grasp what had happened or what the charges were about until watching the video (the charges have nothing to do with his running himself over - that would be evidence, at best). But that is quite impressively inept.

If this is a drawback of automatic gearboxes, will it be worse with self-driving cars? Those might be less likely to run you over once you've got out, but are they even going to try to get you away from the police in the first place?

I would think that most people who aren't being chased by the police and driving while intoxicated have the time and the presence of mind to put the car in park and, ideally, use the parking brake before stepping out of the car.

I don't know much about self-driving cars. Is the plan to take human intervention out of the equation entirely? None of the current crop or those on the near horizon prevent a driver from taking over if necessary, but if they were truly autonomous, could the owner even be pulled over for something like a DWI?

~Psihala
(*"But Occifer *hic*, I have a des-nated driver! It's the car!)

[Die Capacitrix]

My mother's uncle drove some sort of big truck. He parked it on a hill and got out, leaving the door open. The truck started to roll so he leaped to catch it. He just about succeeded, except the truck started rolling and passed a telephone pole which closed the door on him as he was hanging half-way out the truck. He didn't survive.

[GenYus234]

Originally Posted by Psihala

if they were truly autonomous, could the owner even be pulled over for something like a DWI?

Pulled over and/or arrested, certainly. Convicted? Probably not. Both California and Arizona law state that the person must be driving or there is reasonable suspicion that they were driving under the influence. If the car is autonomous and there is no way for the person to take control, then it would be impossible for them to have been driving in any common sense definition. It would be like convicting a taxi cab driver for DUI because his fare was drunk.