# Fred Flintstone Lives!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-flintstone-lives/593307>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 19, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-flintstone-lives/593307 "2011-08-19T12:56:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-flintstone-lives/593307/1 "2011-08-19T12:56:50Z")

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[http://www.macombdaily.com/articles/2011/08/18/news/doc4e4d39a1ac6e9196564613.txt](http://www.macombdaily.com/articles/2011/08/18/news/doc4e4d39a1ac6e9196564613.txt)

Police in the city of Roseville, MI got calls from motorists about a driver in the suburbs of Detroit who was using his foot to try to stop his car in traffic. The article includes video from the in-car camera of the guy doing this. Amazingly, alcohol was apparently NOT involved. In the process, he hit 4 different cars along the way.

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**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-flintstone-lives/593307/2 "2011-08-19T20:49:15Z")

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A foot out the door produces negligible force to slow a moving vehicle. I think the foot action was more of an animated wish.

If it were a standard transmission, one could do a lot of slowing down by gearing down, but that is limited to slowing, not stopping. If you had a really old automatic, like a Fordomatic, you could even use reverse at low speed to brake the vehicle. Then maybe the emergency brake functioned somewhat too, yet was not complete enough for a full stop. It’s dumb to drive without brakes, but there could be a partial explanation as to what the driver intended. One thing he did wrong right off the bat was to admit a bunch of stuff to the police. Never talk to the police.

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**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-flintstone-lives/593307/3 "2011-08-19T20:59:47Z")

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> [@Al\_Bundy](#):
>
> One thing he did wrong right off the bat was to admit a bunch of stuff to the police. Never talk to the police.

One things for sure. He didn’t get off on the right foot with them (unless he had a British car).

Reminds me of the time I saw folks using a parachute to slow down their pickup.

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**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-flintstone-lives/593307/4 "2011-08-19T22:14:11Z")

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Ha! I saw that on the news this morning (I’m also in Michigan) - what an idiot. In a full-sized pickup truck no less.

Last summer a brake line ruptured on my work truck, and I did manage to get it home safely. But it was Sunday, I wasn’t far from home, I used side streets, and the truck is a standard-shift so by staying in low gear, driving ridiculously slowly and using the parking brake, I was able to drift back to my house.

Watching that video…it really seemed the driver was being reckless, stupid and not even making an attempt to get home safely.