My last car (in 1976) was Sunbeam Rapier with a twin choke carburettor. Coming up to traffic lights the secondary fuel jet fell out and jammed the secondary choke valve open (luckily it stayed jammed in the choke venturi) and the engine raced off to full twin choke power, despite my lifting the right foot completely off the pedal, it took barely seconds to hit the clutch, and switch off the ignition, and then work out what on earth was happening.
Not a freak accident, a failure to control the vehicle, when struck by a coughing fit. Dealing with detail such as the bonnet flying up and blocking your forward view - at 50mph are rare (happened twice on vehicles I've been driving) but possible events, and bringing the vehicle safely to a halt should be within the competence of the person driving the car..