[wundie]

Going from Park -> Drive indicates that you are just getting going and possibly not fully prepared for such a surprising situation. If, like today’s Toyota problem, I'm driving and my car starts to speed up I’m likely to be fully engaged in driving and able to correct the situation more naturally.

[__david__]

True, it would be more surprising, but on the other hand I was thinking you're probably nearer to obstacles such that you don't have enough time to accelerate to lethal speeds before crashing into something.