dead manβs lever
n.β Β«Having produced or presented most of Australiaβs current affairs programs, with the occasional live disaster, I used to joke that we ought to have a “dead manβs lever” such as those on trains which would bring the program screeching to a halt if things got out of control.Β» ββMoving Right Along, Folks” by Peter Luck Sun-Herald (Australia) May 19, 1996. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)