I cannot understand how a driver could make a phone call from a car to tell people his car was out of control rather than try to find a way to control the car. I simply don't believe that he could not control the car. A recent Sunday Telegraph ran a story about how a man stopped his car at the top of a cliff to admire the view. Then he “unintentionally” accelerated over the cliff and killed his wife. Unless conclusively proven otherwise I think he had been taught or got used to driving his automatic one-footed and hit the accelerator instead of the brake. That's why I exhort all automatic drivers to drive two-footed, right foot on the accelerator, left foot over the brake, especially while manoeuvring, so there can be no confusion. Diesels rev uncontrollably either when the turbo oil seals fail and sump oil is siphoned into the combustion chambers, or when the sump level gets too high due to failure of one type of diesel particulate filter regeneration system. However, even then an automatic can be taken out of ‘drive’ so the consequences need not be dire.