A TikToker is turning a friend’s death into an opportunity to share life-saving information for drivers to use in a dangerous situation.
Featured VideoAaron Brown told over 18.7 million viewers that he recently learned of a friend’s death in a car accident he feels could have been avoided if she had known what to do in the case of a runaway vehicle.
“If your accelerator on your car sticks, and you got a sticky gas pedal, don’t try and steer,” he said. “Your engine is running away. Your engine is stuck accelerating for some reason. Your transmission is not. If you have a runaway car, to save your life, grab your shifter and put your shifter into neutral.”
After you put the gear shift into neutral, he explained, the engine will continue “doing its own thing,” but the car will start to slow down because your transmission will be in neutral. From there, you can hit the brakes, pull the emergency brake, pull over, and once the car has come to a stop, you can shut it off.
Advertisement“Please do not try to drive out a runaway accelerating vehicle,” Brown emphasized. “You will die.”
@killintime1995 ♬ original sound – Aaron Brown
A lifesaving driving tip
Brown’s advice was something a number of people seeing his video had clearly never heard before. Several expressed that they felt that something with the potential to be life-saving knowledge should have been taught during driver’s ed, while others thanked him for calming longstanding fears they’ve had of being in this exact scenario.
AdvertisementQuite a few viewers also expressed having been in a runaway vehicle before and doing exactly what Brown suggests.
“This happened to me once,” @welltraveledsoles wrote. “It was incredibly scary, and I think I was like 17. I didn’t think in the moment to put it in neutral, but when I called 911 they calmly talked me through it.”
“Happened to my mom when I was a kid. The car wouldn’t stop and the brakes weren’t working. We were going thru a busy intersection, this man yelled out of his window for her to put it in neutral and then use the emergency brake,” @anyalicole recalled. “One of the scariest moments of my life.”
Some people also chimed in with additional information about dealing with a runaway vehicle.
Advertisement“Important to note, your engine will immediately get extremely loud once you go into neutral,” wrote @kittykilla420. “thats ‘normal’ for this situation.”
“DO NOT TURN YOUR CAR OFF UNTIL YOUR VEHICLE HAS COME TO A STOP,” @plutodadeuce warned. “if you turn your car off you will lose the ability to turn your steering wheel because the power steering won’t work.”
“My physics teacher also said that to avoid slamming into something at high speeds, while this process continues, you can also slow the car further by scratching the side of the car against the barrier a bit. The friction will lessen the impact on anything in front of you,” added @xuil.s.
For his part, Brown says he just hopes sharing this tip will make a difference for at least one of the many viewers who have stumbled across his video.
Advertisement“Her death is very tragic,” he said, “and I just wanted to put this out there that maybe, hopefully, someone will see this and will learn how to save their life.”
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