A driving lesson went horribly wrong in Chicago causing a woman’s death on Saturday night.
According to Chicago police, a 61-year-old woman was teaching a man of the same age how to drive a Toyota minivan at approximately 7:15 pm on Saturday, May 6, in the back of a church’s parking lot. The man accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake while the vehicle was in reverse, causing the woman to be dragged underneath the vehicle.
Upon arriving at the scene, responding officers took the woman to St. Francis Hospital, where doctors later pronounced her dead. Another person sitting in the van’s back seat with the door open was also thrown out of the vehicle during the incident and was transported to the same hospital. The passenger is said to be in good condition with non-life-threatening injuries.
Although the authorities have not yet filed any charges against the 61-year-old man, the Chicago Police Department cited him for operating a vehicle without a license.
There have been several notable accidents during driving lessons in the United States. In October 2016, a student driver and their instructor in Canton, Ohio, experienced a head-on crash after the student accidentally veered across the center line. Both individuals were injured but survived.
In July 2017, a 15-year-old student in Washington state lost control of the vehicle during a driving lesson, crashing into a building. The student, instructor, and an individual inside the building sustained injuries but survived.
A fatal incident occurred in Philadelphia in August 2020 when a 16-year-old student driver collided with another car, resulting in the other driver’s death. The student and their instructor had minor injuries.
