• 23
  • March
    2010

A car accident in the parking lot of a San Diego Costco has left one man in the hospital and one without a driver's license. Ray Ehlers, 86, had his license suspended by the state Department of Motor Vehicles after he mistook the accelerator for his brake and sped backwards, knocking down Miguel Rodriguez and then running him over.

Ehlers also struck Rodriguez's SUV, hurling the latter's two young sons from the vehicle and onto the pavement. Rodriguez's wife just barely escaped injury, as the SUV spun around her.

Authorities say that Ehlers was attempting to pull out of a disabled-parking stall when he accidently shifted into neutral, instead of reverse. He hit the gas harder because the car wouldn't move and, when the gear dropped into reverse, he sped backwards, striking Rodriguez.

The car accident left Rodriguez with a broken pelvis, punctured lung and internal bleeding. He is currently being treated at a hospital in La Jolla.

It's a question that has been raised before and, one imagines, will continue to be - how old is too old to get behind the wheel and drive? In an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune, police detective Dan Wall said that elderly drivers can sometimes become disoriented and confused. He also pointed out that medication and even orthopedic shoes have contributed to many car accidents.

Indeed, this isn't the first California car crash caused by an elderly driver who mistook one pedal for the other. Still, as proponents of elderly driving rights are quick to point out, teenage drivers still account for many more car accidents.

In 2007, the California Highway Patrol recorded more than 5,000 collisions resulting in injury or death that were caused by drivers 75 and older. In the same time period, nearly 18,000 such accidents were caused by drivers between the ages of 16 and 20.

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