Yet Another Reason Why the Elderly Shouldn't Drive

WFTV.com
Elderly Woman Hits Husband, Salesman, Car, Tree, Wall

POSTED: 6:58 am EDT April 15, 2005
UPDATED: 12:03 pm EDT April 15, 2005

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- An 81-year-old woman preparing to take a test drive at a car dealership hit her husband, a salesman, a car and a tree before running into a wall.

"She must have panicked," said Joe Sica, sales manager at Honda of Fort Myers.

The new Honda Accord shot backward after Dorothy Byrum got behind the wheel and apparently stepped on the wrong pedal Wednesday.

The open car door hit her 88-year-old husband, Robert, and the salesman. Then the car struck the parked car, the tree and the wall. The air bag deployed, and Byrum was not injured.

Her husband was knocked down but was in good condition the following day. The salesman was released after treatment and is expected to be out of work for about a week, Sica said.

The car was written off.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

-Adam