Driver misses brake pedal, breaks utility pole
An 84-year-old Jasper resident struck a utility pole when his foot slipped off the brake pedal Thursday at about 9:54 a.m.
According to police, the driver was pulling his 2012 Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck onto Truman Road from his driveway when his foot slipped off the brake pedal onto the gas pedal. The truck lurched across Truman and hit a guy wire attached to a utility pole.
The collision caused the utility pole to snap and pulled power line from the house.
The driver was check by emergency medical services but refused treatment.
Damages to the utility pole and line was estimated to be about $4,000, damage to the electric service to the home was about $500 and the truck had about $10,000 in damages.
Jasper first responders, electrical distribution employees and a Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene.
Thankfully no one was injured, but in a different location and circumstances it could have been tragic. Way too many incidents of this type with older or incapacitated drivers where the wrong pedal or maneuver was made at the wrong time but with not enough awareness, reflexes and responsiveness to safely recover and correct for it. Older drivers – we’ll say over 65 – and drivers of any age with a myriad of other physical and mental health issues plus certain medications that may impair driving abilities, should be required to re-test behind the wheel at a minimum of every two years to renew their licenses. At age 80-plus and/or certain other conditions should require annual written and behind-the-wheel testing. Driving is too great a responsibility to ignore such requirements, not unlike the trend for young drivers and graduated licensing laws (which don’t go far enough in my opinion). For the record, I am an older driver – I know from where I opine.