Gulf News today reports on the
story of an Emirati motorist who was rescued by Abu Dhabi police after the cruise control on his Japanese 4WD jammed on the Al Ain Highway. He'd set the control at 160kph and called emergency after realising that it had not only jammed but also jammed the brakes. Three patrol cars from Abu Dhabi police surrounded him, one in front to clear the road and one either side of him in case he lost control. Meanwhile police operations tried to keep him calm and talk him around to a solution which was, eventually, to apply the handbrake to bring the speeding car to a halt.
Apparently one piece of help the police were able to give him was to tell him to secure his seatbelt. I'd have fined him for that one, for starters...
It took 45 minutes in all to bring the situation under control.
The GN report is all very breathless, but as usual fails to answer the one BIG question that any mildy questing reader would surely ask.
Why didn't he just turn the ignition off and coast to a stop under manual steering and braking?
