apply the brakes

　１２日、東京都立川市緑町の国立病院機構災害医療センターの敷地内で、８３歳の女性が運転する乗用車が暴走して歩道に突っ込み、３０代の男女２人がはねられ死亡しました。

2 killed after driver, 83, rams tollbooth at Tokyo hospital

An 83-year-old driver apparently exhausted after caring for her ailing husband rammed through a tollbooth gate, striking and killing two pedestrians on a sidewalk in western Tokyo, police and other sources said Nov. 12.

Officers at the Tachikawa Police Station suspect the driver, Sachiko Uezu, accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes as she was trying to leave the parking lot at the National Hospital Organization Disaster Medical Center in Tachikawa.

“I applied the brakes, but the car did not stop,” police quoted her as saying.

Tatsuhiro Awa of Hachioji, 39, and his acquaintance, Taeko Ichikawa, a 35-year-old resident of Kodaira, both in Tokyo, were run over and later pronounced dead.

Uezu, a resident of Kokubunji, also in Tokyo, was hospitalized after hitting her head in the accident. Police say she showed no signs of dementia.

Police will question her on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death when she recuperates.

Uezu was believed to have been driving home alone after tending to her husband, who is in critical condition at the medical center.

Coins scattered in the driver’s seat indicate that Uezu mistakenly hit the accelerator when she tried to insert money at the tollbooth in the hospital parking lot, according to police.

以下省略

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201611130025.html

今回取り上げる表現は、“apply the brakes”です。“apply”というと「申し込む」などという意味がよく知られていますが、今回は異なります。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)を引いたところ、第３義に「«…に»〈力など〉を加える、かける«to, on»;〈人・車が〉〈ブレーキ〉をかける」とありました。

LDOCEには“to make something such as a piece of equipment operate, usually by pushing or pressing something”と定義されています。“brake”より鮮明にブレーキをかける動作を表現できるようです。

“apply”ではなく、“put on the brake”という形でもでも同じ意味になります。また、“apply the brakes”と表現する際に、“brake”が複数形になっているのは、車輪それぞれにブレーキをかけるからだと思います。(Blue Sky)