or thrown it out of gear, or even used the handbrake to slow it a bit. Seems a bit ridiculous that nobody in the emergency services thought of any of these things ... something's not right.

From wikipedia:

> The Laguna featured a 'keyless' ignition system which, instead of a key, used a credit card style device to unlock the car and start the engine.

that might eliminate the first possibility: the car could be "clever" enough to not allow cutting the ignition while it's at speed. There's also mention of a model being shipped with a "proactive transmission", on which I can find this description:

> flick-shift, six-speed, proactive transmission

I suppose flick-shift might also be routed through the computer so you don't damage the machinery by attempting to put it into low gear or into park at speed ... or into neutral, I guess.

Are vehicles really being approved without mechanical failsafes?

Well, the car might not let him do that. It's less clear why he can't just throw the car into neutral and let it coast to a stop. I guess that would mess the engine up pretty good (edit: I'm not actually sure that's true), but it still seems like the right move. I'd be curious to know why he didn't/couldn't do that.

Sounds like all the cars systems were unable to be controlled mechanically. This is why I drive manual.

Also I feel like this would've ended tragically if it had happened before the age of ubiquitous cell-phones. Imagine being unable to call the police from your car in this situation. Very scary.