old people and cars

I was getting a drink from the coffee shop yesterday and an old woman asked me to help her start her car yesterday. Turns out she couldn't shift out of park because she wasn't stepping down on the brake-pedal. I told her "try stepping down on the brake first" she replied "like this?" and stomped down the accelerator. "WOAH WOAH WOAAH. Not like that" I tried yelling over the revving of her engine.
In the end she got the car to go; but I wonder how she got there in the first place.