@scholrlea said in 🙅 THE BAD IDEAS THREAD:
The fact that this guy was still alive when the story was making the rounds makes me think it might not have happened quite that way, but given that he was one of the quintessential examples at Stamford H.S. of more-money-than-sense affluenza (though that term hadn't been coined yet), it seemed at least somewhat plausible.
It wouldn't kill they guy:
When your transmission doesn't know any better, selecting reverse during forward driving is still less exciting than you might imagine. "If the transmission was not designed with a reverse inhibit feature, engaging reverse while driving forward will, most likely, stall the engine," Renneker said. "The car won't lock-up or skid, but it will slow down a bit and act like the transmission is in neutral."
source: https://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/20/reverse-transmission/