Laguna’s Mayor Avoids Traffic Collision

A driver whose foot-gear apparently became entangled in the accelerator pedal crashed head-on into a car parked downtown Tuesday afternoon just in front of a vehicle driven by Mayor Toni Iseman.

Iseman, who was heading toward the water on Ocean Avenue, said she recalled the accelerating vehicle as if in “slow motion” but slammed on the breaks to avoid getting broadsided. “I’m pretty lucky,” she said.

The driver of the runaway 2010 BMW, a 76-year-old Laguna Beach resident who was leaving the Whole Foods market, was uninjured, though his car’s airbag deployed, Iseman said.

The 2011 parked Mazda sustained major damage, police Lt. Jason Kravetz said. The vehicle was hit with such force its wheels were broken, Iseman observed.

The driver told police because his foot was entangled, he applied the gas rather than the break.