[jwholden]

I think this is one of those situations where experience made the difference. A course on defensive driving, given by you for 1/2 hour at a company meeting, would help. You could cover how to react in emergency situations - no brakes, fire in the truck, flat tire while going 50 mph, what to do if you get in an accident, etc. Whatever is important to you.

You were raised around cars and mechanical things and hitting the E-brake is a reflex action, for you. Pablo may not have spent his life around mechanical things and frankly the first time anyone is in that situation they would get pretty tense.

When I was just out of school the boss wanted me to take a Super Duty down I95 to make a delivery. My training was to give me the keys to the truck and let me go practice for an hour, unsupervised. That drive would be a cake walk for anyone here but at that point in my life I was VERY nervous about it. If the brakes went on me or heaven forbid I came to a stoplight on a steep hill I would have been screwed.

Everyone is going to react differently to the same situation.

Final sad note.

A local hardware store sent a high school kid to make a delivery with their van. The kid was getting on an entrance ramp and hit the gas to get through a yellow light. He went head on with an oncoming car and killed someone.

That poor kid has to live with that the rest of his life and someone is missing a member of their family. Slow down, it's better to take an extra five minutes than lose the time getting pulled over for a ticket, getting in an accident, or getting killed.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.