This story in the Daily Mail makes interesting reading.
The Milwaukee woman is believed by police to have pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, and the car shot across 6 lanes of busy traffic and rammed into the window of a house opposite. Three quarters of the car ended up inside the house, which was fortunately unoccupied at the time.
There’s an interesting comment by a British ex-pat, living in the USA. He says:
The plague of the elderly driver is very common here in the USA. Its strange because at home in England you don’t see many crumblies behind the wheel. Here they are everywhere and can always be counted on to drive the largest cars available.
I’m not sure what planet he’s on, but one can only assume that when he says you don’t see many old people behind the wheel over here he is simply talking in comparitive terms.
The case is ongoing and no final conclusions about the actual cause have yet been drawn by police.
The issue of older drivers and road safety seems to be a big topic in the US at the moment. Several stories have cropped up recently.