A few weeks ago I was driving to see my parents.

The road(s) I take to their place are Slow (40km or less) and a gentle combination of some hills and some curves.  It's generally a relaxing sort of drive with some nice views here and there.

So on that particular day, I was heading down a slight decline and I felt like I was going a bit too fast, so I gently pressed the brakes.

And as I did so I wondered why the car wasn't slowing.... were my brakes not working? And it took me a moment of time to realize that the car was actually speeding up a little because I was somehow pressing the wrong pedal.  My foot was on the accelerator.

Now, fortunately, I wasn't going all that fast to begin with and I wasn't slamming on the brakes, just a gentle slow down push, but still... it was a really unsettling moment.  

I corrected right away of course, but I was shaken.

I wasn't "out of it" or sleepy or stressed or distracted.  I wasn't wearing particularly unusual footwear, I just somehow had put my foot not where it was meant to be.

Never in my life have I ever hit the wrong pedal, but you hear about it happening from time to time, most often when someone is braking hard and they end up accelerating hard instead and often causing damage.  How lucky was I that I was neither "slamming" anything or around anything hittable.... and going a low speed too.  But damn, y'all, that was not a good realization.

I tried to sort of analyze what might have happened and I suppose I'll put it down to the footwear I was wearing and I don't know what else, but I never ever want to make that mistake again and I haven't ever done so before, so hopefully that was a one off never to be repeated.

But how strange, you know?  How strange.