Stop The Car—Ask Location Later

In 2009, Jeff Clawson, M.D., was mildly shocked when he first heard the story of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer—Mark Saylor—calling 911 due to the loaner vehicle he was driving accelerating out of control on highway 125 near Mission Gorge Road in Santee (San Diego, California, USA). Unfortunately, the Lexus came to an interstate transition, ending with a collision and fiery explosion that killed Saylor, his brother-in-law (on the phone with 911), his wife, and their daughter.¹ This tragic 911 call lasted only 48 seconds!

At the time, the tragic incident felt like a strange outlier call, but when Dr. Clawson heard of a similar incident in San Diego County (very coincidentally) reported to the IAED by the state EMS office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (USA), shortly afterward, he knew this growing concern was now a pattern and should be addressed with his usual dispatch “fix it” response—a protocol.

“Within 22 days of the [Harrisburg] call, we developed the Accelerator Stuck & Can’t Stop Vehicle Protocol and had it approved by the Council of Standards,” Dr. Clawson said. “Normally, we don’t create protocol as fast as humanly possible—we focus on getting it right. But this, we felt, had to be fast and right.”

The Accelerator Stuck & Can’t Stop Vehicle Protocol was then designed both as a pullout card added to each Emergency Priority Dispatch System^™ (EPDS^™) in March 2010 and also automated in ProQA^® Paramount in April 2010—as referenced in Audrey Fraizer’s article “Runaway Car.” That year, it was translated into seven additional languages and dialects for use all over the world. More language translations were released early the following year.

“This efficiency shows the true value of a Unified Protocol System where you can make a change and roll it out like that,” Dr. Clawson said. “This shows the true ‘potential for impact’ of the IAED’s unified process.”

Of course, the chances of an Emergency Dispatcher encountering an accelerator stuck call in their career are extremely remote. Over the last 16 years of its usage, only a relatively few (about 10) incidents have been reported among millions of calls—though when that’s what the caller needs, the Emergency Dispatcher has it right now!

“A stuck accelerator situation is one of very few where, if you don’t take action in the first 60 seconds, it likely means death,” Dr. Clawson said. “It depends on the circumstances like the road, traffic, speed, and the driver’s ability to navigate, but instructions to simply put the car into neutral can be a saving grace to a terrified caller who simply doesn’t know what to do—or how to do it!”

Through the years, the Accelerator Stuck & Can’t Stop Vehicle Protocol Instructions have stayed consistent, addressing different vehicle dynamics (automatic, manual, and other transmission types and systems). In the most recent Medical Priority Dispatch System^™ (MPDS^®) ProQA Paramount release (version 5.1.1.53), the Accelerator Stuck & Can’t Stop Vehicle Protocol has been added to the toolbar to access at any point, functioning as an immediately available Fast Track at the earliest point in Case Entry and automatically launching Key Questions when done.

The importance of this feature was illustrated by a case in August 2012 where Lauri Ulvestad called 911 while traveling on Interstate 84 near the New York/Connecticut (USA) line. Her terror made her location unintelligible as she guided her runaway SUV going about 115 mph.²

Though asking for incident location is standard practice in most emergency situations, Dr. Clawson says the valid answer in this case is “they are approaching the impending crash site at a high rate of speed—and we already know this!"

Her panicked plea stating “I’m going to die” seemed to jar the Emergency Dispatcher in this case into recalling and then utilizing the always immediately available instructions, just in time for her to safely slow her vehicle to a stop.

“We want our callers to be given instructions ‘at-the-ready’ in these situations,” said Greg Scott, IAED™ Associate Director of Protocol Evolution. “What resources are we going to send them if they’re speeding down the highway? And how will responders intercede before it becomes a collision? The priority is to stop the car, and only the Emergency Dispatcher can give them clear, definitive instructions to do it.”

Emergency Dispatchers may now access the Accelerator Stuck & Can’t Stop Vehicle Protocol in the MPDS without a code or location (though fire and police have slightly different CAD requirements). The Key Question sequence has been adapted to ask for additional details and provides specific instruction when the car is stopped or has crashed, which we have fortunately not heard happen in a call where these instructions have been given! 

As adrenaline settles, callers may need to be reminded to pull to the side of the road, stay in the car, and wait for help to arrive (and not reengage the vehicle). These safety instructions may seem obvious, but people in panic are often still processing the event. “They freeze as they get into a state of paralysis by analysis,” Dr. Clawson said.

The IAED continues to track the use of the Accelerator Stuck & Can’t Stop Vehicle Protocol as varied incidents provide more insights.

For instance, take the case of Hunter Cinder driving southbound on I-75 in Marion County (Florida, USA) in his Toyota Tundra in 2024. When his vehicle began accelerating beyond his control, he was advised to press the brakes, shift to neutral, and turn the ignition (one click back) in his 18-minute 911 call—all to no avail. Finally, the Emergency Dispatcher relayed an idea from a highway patrol officer clearing traffic ahead of him to pull the emergency brake. After pulling the brake, he heard a big “pop”, which slowed Cinder down about 10 mph and allowed him to regain functionality to stop the vehicle.³

“We try to learn from these incidents, and the Academy does,” Dr. Clawson said. “As unfortunate as it sounds, the protocol evolves, when reported and acted on— one harrowing case at a time.”

Sources

1. “How to Stop a Runaway Vehicle.” The Early Show. CBS. 2010; Jan. 22. cbsnews.com/news/how-to-stop-a-runaway-vehicle (accessed March 12, 2026).

2. “Stuck Accelerator Leads Iowa Woman on Real- Life Horror Ride.” ABC News. 2012; Aug. 27. abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/stuck-accelerator-leads-iowa-woman-on-real-life-horror-ride (accessed March 12, 2026).

3. “Accelerator Stuck Audio.” Marion County Public Safety (Florida). 2024; May. prioritydispatch.widen.net/content/ag9io7cexc/mp3/Accelerator-Stuck-Audio-Marion-County-Public-Safety-Florida-May-2024.mp3?u=k1afzz (accessed March 12, 2026).