‘Pedal confusion’ sends car into Santa Rosa storefront

A Santa Rosa driver had a run-in with the front of a Montgomery Village shop Wednesday morning when she mixed up the pedals while parking and drove into the J. Jill clothing store.

Santa Rosa firefighters and Santa Rosa police officers responded to the 11:30 a.m. accident at 700 Farmers Lane that left the driver with a cut on the top of her head. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital with minor injuries.

“She didn’t travel far and didn’t travel with much momentum,” said Santa Rosa Fire Capt. Damon Pearson, who was on scene. “She struck the (store’s) glass and the frame around it and it stopped the vehicle. There was minimal intrusion.”

Pearson said “pedal confusion” isn’t uncommon, though in his experience it occurs more often with older drivers, which was not the case in this incident. Weather was not believed to be a factor.

-Kevin Fixler