Not what I have read and watched in the news, I've seen stated they didn't know how, not lack the ability to do so. The one lady went through an entire thickness of a brake pads and rotors. She said she didn't know how to turn it off and didn't think to put it in neutral. Regardless, she shouldn't have been given a license to operate a vehicle in the first place with out knowing those things. The ignorance of the driver is not Toyota's fault, or any manufacturer for that matter. This is the thinking in this country right now, it bugs the shit out of me. These people who have had bad happenings with these cars don't blame themselves at all, it Toyota's fault entirely. While some who have experienced the same thing do exactly what they should do and come out only inconvenienced by calling a tow truck. We don't hear about those people in the media.
You think you get a Pilot's license and not given bad situation training? Food for thought for our driver teaching centers, and DMV tests. You should have to take a road test every 10 years at minimum and demonstrate the ability to handle your self in a "panic" situation and show basic driving skills. Driver's licenses are thought as a right anymore not a privilege.
So many people should not have licenses. I'll explain:
I have an acquaintance who is 70 years old, and has demonstrated that he is pretty much legally blind to me on several occasions. Yet he passes a drivers exam every time it comes around. He is a doctor himself, and knows how bad his eyesight really is, but he says he can get by. I yell at him and say dude you should not be driving at all, but I cannot make him not drive.
As for the officer, whatever I have seen many an officer that despite any training they may have received, they haven't listened and cannot drive. Just because you are a cop doesn't mean you have superior common sense or driving skill. Hell I was told at our CCW class by our instructor that he sees more officers that can't fire a gun properly than that can. I find that more disturbing than any driver training. I would think they should get more firearms training than driving.
When my wife and I got married she hated to drive in the snow and having the car slide on her was the most scary thing. I fixed that because I took her to an empty lot and taught her how to stay calm a how to counter steer a slide and use the accelerator and brakes in frictionless driving. I did this over many seasons. Now I have caught her doing doughnuts. Most people do not take the time to educate themselves in unpredictable situations.
Funny, when I took the MSF class for my Motorcycle license, bad situations and crash avoidance is mainly what the class was about almost entirely. Hmmmmmm