History Main / DeadFootLeadfoot

* Averted in ''Film/{{Lou}}'' (2022). Hannah's abusive ex-husband, pretending his car has broken down, asks her current boyfriend for a lift, then attacks him while he's braked at a crossroads. The van only lurches forward slightly, then stops.

* Sorta happens in ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie''. In case #412 ("Re-Tried"), an old man died behind the wheel of his classic Chrysler during his daily ritual of sitting in the driver's seat and reminiscing about his life. The car went on driverless and hit a bank robber, killing him.

** This was realised horrifically with the strange case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522 Helios Airways Flight 522]]. An error in preparing the plane for the flight meant that the pressurisation switch had been turned off, and wasn't turned on again before the plane took off. As the plane climbed, the crew and virtually everyone else on board (sans one flight attendant who managed to reach a handheld oxygen tank) passed out from a lack of oxygen and low air pressure. The plane continued until it reached Athens, where it proceeded to fly around the city on Autopilot for almost two hours, unable to land because there was no one able to control the plane and carry out the landing sequence, which is always dealt with by the crew. Fighter pilots noticed the flight attendant attempting to control the jet, but with the attendant unable to communicate with the pilots or understand the controls, the plane kept circling the city. In a last ditch attempt, the flight attendant tried to land the plane, but the plane's fuel had ran out, and the aircraft slammed into the ground.
** The case of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Macao ''Miss Macao'']] also qualifies. The Consolidated Catalina seaplane was boarded by four armed men who held the passengers and crew at gunpoint. When the passengers refused to hand over their money, one of them shot the pilot, and the weight of his body on the controls sent the plane crashing into the Pearl River Delta. The only survivor was one of the would-be SkyPirates.
** As does the Learjet crash that killed golfer Payne Stewart. The plane took off from Florida and presumably depressurized shortly after. The control tower didn’t get a response shortly after takeoff but it’s not an uncommon thing at that point in flight. It missed its planned turn that would take it toward its Texas destination. The plane continued unguided and followed by various military F-16 aircraft until it ran out of fuel over North Dakota. The F-16 pilots couldn’t see any activity in the cockpit but reported it appeared iced over. The most commonly accepted explanation is that the cabin rapidly decompressed at some point, and the pilots were incapacitated before they could put on their oxygen masks. If this is the case, everyone on that plane was likely dead long before it crashed.

* The bus chase scene in ''Film/FuriousSeven'', when a GunStruggle erupts.

* Not death but shock induced in ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' when Dury Walker tries to carjack Ives. Ives goes into shock and floors the accelerator, blanking out Tim yelling at him that he can stop now. After he blows through an intersection Tim knocks his foot aside with his own, jerks the car over to the curb and stomps on the brakes before helping Ives and calling the cops.

** As does the Learjet crash that killed golfer Payne Stewart. The plane took off from Florida and presumably depressurized shortly after. The control tower didn’t get a response shortly after takeoff but it’s not an uncommon thing at that point in flight. It missed its planned turn that would take it toward its Texas destination. The plane continued unguided and followed by various military F-16 aircraft until it ran out of fuel over North Dakota. The F-16 pilots couldn’t see any activity in the cockpit but reported it appeared iced over.

'''As a DeathTrope, several if not all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* Kenshiro in ''Anime/FistOfTheNorthStar'' subjects an enemy commander of God's Army to this. Instead of being shot behind the wheel, the villain gets away laughing after seemingly successfully pulling an ISurrenderSuckers on Ken. As it turns out, however, he had already been hit by one of Kenshiro's techniques and was merely undergoing DelayedCausality. He [[LudicrousGibs explodes]] while behind the wheel and his car is seen rolling along until it crashes and explodes.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Film]]
* The truck driver in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified examples]]: The pilot in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' and the tank driver in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. These are a little different, since in both cases they involve a hand-operated throttle and the driver falling on top of it.
* The Subway in ''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace''. The fact that there is no preventive measure for such a thing here makes Big Blue's speech about public transportation being the safest way to travel slightly comical.
* The subway train in the film ''Film/{{Speed}}''. The opposite effect of a real deadman's switch, which would stop the train.
** Inverted when the original bus driver gets shot. Not only doesn't he die, but they have to get a new driver in the seat and keep her from going below 50 (and Keanu hasn't told 'em there's a bomb on the bus yet).
* Coke, the El Train driver in ''Film/TheFrenchConnection''.
** Justified in the same way as Indiana Jones, since it's hand operated.

* ''Franchise/JamesBond''
** In the climax of ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', a dying Largo falls on the controls of his hydrofoil and jams them, forcing Bond & Co. to jump overboard, all so they can end the scene with StuffBlowingUp when the hydrofoil hits the rocks.
** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie''. Bond's driver gets shot with a poison dart that causes exactly this reaction. Of course, it presumably was a special kind of poison with [[RuleOfDrama specific plot-related symptoms]].
* Happens to the limo driver during the Florida Keys action sequence in ''Film/TrueLies''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' movie, this happens to the bus driver near the end.
* In ''Warlords of the 21st Century'', a.k.a. ''Film/{{Battletruck}}'', the BigBad kills his driver in a fit of anger, and attempts to take the wheel himself, only to be incapacitated by the main protagonist. The Battletruck ultimately meets its [[EveryCarIsAPinto obvious end]].

* Played with in ''Film/LethalWeapon''. [=McAllister=] and his driver escape in a car through an alley, only for the driver to be shot dead by Murtagh. [=McAllister=] desperately attempts to take the wheel, but is thwarted when the car is hit by a bus and ultimately destroyed by a live grenade in the back seat.
* ''Film/NewPoliceStory'' had a driver that, when killed, not only slammed on the gas but certainly swerved to maximize damage and drama.
* It's not detailed whether he died or not, but in ''Film/{{Salt}}'' Evelyn repeatedly tasers a driver to achieve this same effect.

* A variation occurs in ''Film/{{Maverick}}''. Maverick, Annabelle, and Coop are riding a stagecoach, when the driver dies, and the horses, left without input keep running at full speed, straight toward a cliff. The others make Maverick climb up on top to stop the horses, which, since the reins are dragging on the ground, he has to do by jumping onto the team's lead pair and pull back on them.
* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. Max uses the grossly obese People Eater for this after he's shot, who incidentally has an overly-large mutated foot which comes in handy for this trope.

* ''Film/FiveGravesToCairo'' opens with a single British tank aimlessly trundling across the desert. The reason it is aimlessly trundling is that four of the five crewmen have been overcome by carbon monoxide after the tank's exhaust was damaged in combat, including the tank driver, slumped dead against the controls. Cpl. Bramble, who is the protagonist, makes it out JustInTime.

* ''Film/DeadPresidents''. One of the robbers is fleeing down a dead-end ally from a police car. He shoots the driver, and his partner grabs the wheel to prevent the vehicle crashing. The robber however has nowhere to dodge and gets crushed against the wall at the end of the alley before the policeman can stop the car.

* ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'': Happens when Harley knocks out all of the 'Mercedes gang', including the driver. He [[DeadManHonking slumps forward on the steering wheel]], with his foot still on the accelerator. The car continues to accelerate until it [[EveryCarIsAPinto crashes and explodes]].

* ''Film/PigHunt'': After John shoots the redneck driving the dune buggy with a crossbow bolt, the buggy continues to accelerate away from him until it flips over.
* Averted in ''Lou'' (2022). Hannah's abusive ex-husband, pretending his car has broken down, asks her current boyfriend for a lift, then attacks him while he's braked at a crossroads. The van only lurches forward slightly, then stops.

* The driver of a car is disabled by an object falling off of a truck in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgKMK_t1S1M this episode]] of ''Series/{{Rescue 911}}'' and his car continues driving.

* The first episode of ''Series/FlashForward2009'' did this on the largest scale yet. When the blackout occurs, ''every driver on the planet'' falls victim. (Granted, they only fall unconscious for a couple of minutes, but some do not survive the resulting crashes.)
* Sorta happens in ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie''. In case #412 ("Re-Tried"), an old man died behind the wheel of his classic Chrysler during his daily ritual of sitting in the driver's seat and reminiscing about his life. The car went on driverless and hit a bank robber, killing him.
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "The Deadly Angels", Steed is in a car being driven by one of his friends. A sign is flashed that causes the friend to suffer a fatal heart attack. The car continues to careen along as Steed attempts to steer it to a safe stop.

* Happens in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' if the driver of a car is killed. In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', it also happens when the player takes out the pilot of an aircraft when it's in mid-air.
** Though subverted in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', albeit still a lateral move in terms of realism: killing a driver will cause the car to immediately brake to a screechy stop before ejecting the corpse.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/JFKReloaded'' if you kill the limo driver. Sometimes he manages to turn the steering wheel a little bit too, most often resulting in [[VideogameCrueltyPotential the presidential limo crashing into the side of a building, killing everyone else in the vehicle and tossing their bodies out onto the sidewalk and street.]]

* In ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'', this is what happens to all "killed" vehicles that don't blow up outright, instead going "Out of Control" and aimlessly barging forwards before exploding on contact with the first obstacle. This can lead to an amusing sight of reversing vehicles instantly jerking into forward motion at full speed without as much as a slowdown, as if they bounced off something invisible.

* Em, ''drives'' the plot of ''VideoGame/BlastCorps''. A nuclear missile carrier is driving across the landscape after a radiation leak kills the crew. Now, the player has to remove any obstacles in its path or a collision will trigger an explosion.

* A non-lethal variant in ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie'', where a bus driver faints at the wheel and has a metal leg that pins the gas down, causing Gerald to take control and [[ChekhovsSkill utilize his gaming skill]] [[IKnowMortalKombat at a runaway bus game]] to steer them to safety until the driver comes to.

* In ''Warlords of the 21st Century'', a.k.a. ''Battletruck'', the BigBad kills his driver in a fit of anger, and attempts to take the wheel himself, only to be incapacitated by the main protagonist. The Battletruck ultimately meets its [[EveryCarIsAPinto obvious end]].

** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie''. Bond's driver gets shot with a ooison dart that causes exactly this reaction. Of course, it presumably was a special kind of poison with [[RuleOfDrama specific plot-related symptoms]].

* In ''Film/ForkliftDriverKlaus'' Klaus ends up decapitated by chainsaw, with his forklift still going, and ends up impaling another man, ending with his corpse driving off into the sunset with two impaled screaming workers.

* Averted in ''Lou'' (2022). Hannah's abusive ex-husband asks her current boyfriend for a lift (pretending his car has broken down) then attacks him while he's stopped at a crossroad. We don't see what happens but the van only lurches forward slightly, then stops.

* ''Film/LiveAndLetDie''. Film/JamesBond's driver gets shot with a dart that causes exactly this reaction. Of course, it presumably was a kind of poison with specific plot-related symptoms.
** Something similar happens with the BigBad and a boat in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''.

* Averted to point of inversion in ''Film/RawDeal''. Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger headshoots the driver of a dump truck moments before it's about to crush the prefab cabin he's in. The truck comes to a complete stop instantly.

If the vehicle is an aircraft, it is DisposablePilot. Related to RunawayTrain.

* Trains these days usually have a dead man's switch that has to be ''toggled'' periodically. Falling unconscious on one doesn't work most of the time, although stations did install “Moorgate Stops” after the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_tube_crash Moorgate crash]] as failsafes. These detect a train entering the station at high speed and automatically slow it down enough to avoid major damage.

* Trains these days usually have a dead man's switch that has to be ''toggled'' periodically. Falling unconscious on one doesn't work.

** As does the Learjet crash that killed golfer Payne Stewart. The plane took off from Florida and presumably depressurized shortly after. The control tower didn’t get a response shortly after takeoff but it’s not an uncommon thing at that point in a flight. The plane continued unguided and followed by various military F-16 aircraft until it ran out of fuel over North Dakota. The F-16 pilots couldn’t see any activity in the cockpit but reported it appeared iced over.

* The bus chase scene in ''Film/FuriousSeven''.

Common to action movies and driving games. Sometimes justified if the throttle or accelerator is a hand control, and the driver slumps over it, holding it open or down. Subversions may involve the presence of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch dead man's switch]].