A 61-year-old woman lost her life in a tragic accident during a driving lesson in a Chicago church’s parking lot on Saturday, May 6th.
The woman was teaching a man of the same age to drive a Toyota minivan when he mistakenly pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake while the vehicle was in reverse.
According to the Chicago police, the woman was dragged underneath the minivan in the incident, which occurred around 7:15 pm. Officers who responded to the scene quickly transported her to St. Francis Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
During the accident, another individual was sitting in the van’s back seat with the door open and was ejected from the vehicle. This person was also taken to St. Francis Hospital and is reported to be in good condition with non-life-threatening injuries.
The 61-year-old man who was operating the vehicle has been cited by the Chicago Police Department for driving without a license. However, no charges have been filed against him.
This accident is one of several notable incidents involving driving lessons in the United States. In October 2016, a head-on crash in Canton, Ohio, resulted in injuries to both a student driver and their instructor after the student veered across the center line. In July 2017, a 15-year-old student in Washington state lost control of the vehicle during a driving lesson, crashing into a building and injuring the student, instructor, and an individual inside the building. Another fatal incident occurred in Philadelphia in August 2020 when a 16-year-old student driver collided with another car, leading to the death of the other driver and minor injuries to the student and instructor.