Shipping tycoon Angela Chao was drunk when she inadvertently reversed her Tesla into a pond and drowned last month at a Texas ranch, police say.
Blanco County Sheriff’s Office found her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the state’s legal limit.
The 50-year-old died after dinner on 10 February with a group of friends at the estate near Johnson City.
Her brother-in-law, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, cited the tragedy in his resignation speech.
On Wednesday, Blanco County Sheriff’s Office released the findings of its investigation concluding Ms Chao’s death was an “unfortunate accident”.
Fuck drunk drivers. Just glad she didn’t kill anyone else.
Of course she was. Putting your car into reverse and letting it back fully into a pond without braking when you actually meant to put it in drive is not something an unimpaired driver does.
Don’t be so sure. I have seen people, rarely, actually be that incredibly stupid.
But, yes, it most often means they are impaired.
One could argue that a room temperature IQ constitutes enough an impairment for driving.
Eh, not defending a drunk driver but there’s more to this:
- the Tesla gear interface is a touchscreen where there’s no “feel” for which gear you’ve selected if you fatfinger it.
- many folks, sober or drunk, when they get the car moving in an unexpected way reflexively stamp down on the pedal their foot is currently on. This could happen to you. You are not immune.
So if you are in the wrong gear, then panic stomp the pedal, you can absolutely find yourself speeding in the wrong direction.
Maybe the machine knew where she was going.
For those that don’t know where they’re going:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOW_kPzY_JY
Adrenaline does weird things to your brain, when controlling a car. When startled, we default to getting low and stable. That’s good when standing, however, it putting your feet flat on the ground is extremely bad when in the driver’s seat.
I’ve actually witnessed this in action. A slip resulted in 2 cars written off, 1 pushed through several gardens. I can easily see someone doing something similar, with a Tesla. Alcohol would just amplify the effect.
Not just drunk, 3x the limit drunk.
Honestly for her probably closer to four. I am assuming she wasn’t a very big person and I know she is a she so yeah about four.
The only natural predator of billionaires is addiction.
Don’t drive drunk, fam.
I don’t drink, but I realize that getting home after one has been drinking is a legitimate problem that does encourage people to drive drunk.
It’s one thing that I hope that self-driving cars will help address in the long run. If everyone’s got their own electronic chauffeur readily available, it’s lot easier to let them get one home safely.
FYI there’s already a solution: Public transit. I understand the US doesn’t have it but the solution already exists.
