Ryan Foreman wrote:
In the press conference the LAPD openly theorized that Woods accidently put his foot on the accelerator instead of breaking.
I'm torn on how believable that is. It seem ridiculous on the face of it. I'm not a particularly good driver. Yet never in my life, even when I was 17, have I ever made that mistake.
It's more believable than the theories above that he was speeding because he's rich/frat boy-like/privileged, etc. and the normal rules don't apply to him. That he missed the curve and didn't even brake points to a different reason, because intentional speeding is not a suicidal thing. Ask yourself or anyone here who intentionally exceeds speed limits.
That leaves reasons like wrong pedal or loss of consciousness due to medical or drug issue. Do drugs suddenly kick in like that (someone above said he was observed driving the speed limit before the accident)? Probably not. Distracted driving doesn't even make much sense because you'd notice if you sped up to 83 in a 45 zone, even if messing with a phone.
The car wasn't his, it was a loaner, so that supports the possible wrong pedal theory. Most of the "unintended acceleration" reports over the decades in cars have in fact been people hitting the wrong pedal, which was more likely in some cars due to the pedal configuration. The rest are things like loose floor mats (which are generally fastened securely to the floor on the driver's side from the dealer these days for that reason), or other objects. I once found my pedals reacting weirdly, which turned out to be an orange or apple rolling around, getting stuck behind a pedal.