A man named Aaron is currently capturing the attention of millions of people with some very specific driving advice that could save your life.
Aaron was inspired to share this advice after learning that one of his childhood friends sadly passed away in an accident he believes could have been prevented.
His viral TikTok explainer has garnered over 18 million views and is continuing to climb. “One of my friends that I grew up with, I found out the other day, passed away in a car crash, and I read through how she passed away, and it made me so sad, because I know if I was in that car, she would still be alive. And because of that, I want to tell you what you can do to stay alive if you have a runaway vehicle,” Aaron starts.
If you didn’t know, a runaway vehicle happens when you’ve lost the ability to stop or steer your car, and it keeps moving without control. This can happen if your brakes fail, if your gas pedal gets stuck, if the parking brake wasn’t engaged when it needed to be, or because of some other malfunction.
“If your accelerator on your car sticks and you got a sticky gas pedal, don’t try and steer. Your engine is running away. Your engine is stuck accelerating for some reason. Your transmission is not,” he said.
He continues, “If you have a runaway car, to save your life, grab your shifter and put your shifter into neutral. Your transmission will be in neutral.”
“No torque from the engine will go into your transmission. Your engine will just be up there revving along, doing its own thing, and it will not be driving your wheels. Your vehicle will begin to slow down, you can push your brakes, and you can pull over, and shut the car off,” he said.
Aaron continued, stating that he believes anyone trying to drive a runaway vehicle could be in grave danger. “Her death is very tragic, and I just wanted to put this out there that maybe hopefully, someone will see this and will learn, you know, how to save their life,” he said, reiterating, “It takes two seconds. Grab that shifter, put it in neutral. That’s it. Neutral. It’s no longer driving. The car will begin to slow down. Slam on that emergency brake. Slam on your brakes after you’ve done that, and you will be okay.”
So, if you have a runaway vehicle, remember to first avoid trying to steer. Put the car in neutral, apply the brakes, and then turn it off once it has stopped.
And you should never turn your car off until the vehicle has come to a complete stop.
Many who have experienced the terror of a runaway car firsthand say doing this literally saved their lives.
And hundreds of thousands of other people who have feared this were thanking Aaron for sharing what to do.
Some are just now learning this after worrying about it for 20 years!
It is definitely something that probably isn’t taught in driving school, but should be.