From a recent NHTSA study:
- Women are more likely than men to mistake the gas pedal for the brakes
- Men are more likely to be involved in an accident
- Drivers aged 16 to 20 and those 76 or older were most likely to be involved in pedal misapplication crashes.
- This project examined the prevalence of pedal application errors and the driver, vehicle, roadway and/or environmental characteristics associated with pedal misapplication crashes based on a literature review, analysis of news media reports, a panel of driver rehabilitation specialists, analysis of multiple crash databases, and case studies. An analysis of crashes attributed to pedal-related vehicle equipment malfunction, rather than to a driver error, was also carried out based on a media scan.