> While making a three-point turn, she had put the car in reverse instead of drive, she said. It is a mistake she had made before with the Tesla gearshift. The

> While making a three-point turn, she had put the car in reverse instead of drive, she said. It is a mistake she had made before with the Tesla gearshift. The car had zipped backward, tipping over an embankment and into a pond. I've shifted to the wrong gear before during parking and so forth, luckily not causing an accident but it caused me to reevaluate my methods. Now after shifting (on an automatic) I let my foot off the brake and let the car creep a little bit before adding throttle if required. If I was in the wrong gear I would step on the brake immediately and the car would only have moved a couple inches. Yes many vehicles have a electronic display on the dash showing the selected gear but an additional confirmation is always the safest. It's like how you shouldn't completely rely on the hot surface light on a stove or the loaded chamber indicator on a handgun. The article also seemed to imply that Chao applied a decent amount of throttle right after shifting gears, causing the car to careen into the pond before she could react. While I can't speak for the exact conditions here but that's not something you should do especially at night with poor visibility.