Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Funny bit of news on the radio

Yep!

LOL, Sue! Try driving on the right with a manual after years of driving on the left. All of a sudden, you're changing gear with your right hand instead of your left and the handbrake is in the wrong place. Lots of fun.

Actually, my favourite was practising in my first hire car in the States. I'd driven automatics before, so that was fine. However, I decided to do a couple of safety laps around the car park before venturing out onto the open road. Unfortunately, I forgot that driving on the right also meant my laps should have been counter-clockwise by convention. Lots of unamused drivers in car park.

Yvonne

Yvonne

Ha Yvonne! I know what you mean. The first time I drove on the left was last year and I spent the first day whacking the door with my right hand every time I needed to change gears.

Unamused drivers? My first scary moments were in Edinburgh during the morning rush hour. I learned really fast that there's a lane solely for buses and that when the light flashes yellow after red you can actually *go* if the crosswalk is clear.

Oh, what a great topic!

I always drive a manual. In university, it was great because no one ever asked to borrow my car . Now... well, now when I buy a car, I ask for all the bells and whistles except that I don't want antilock breaks or an automatic transmission. It's just so much more fun driving a manual.

Me, too. In fact, my difficulty with an automatic tends to be that I drive with my right foot on the gas and my left on the break. I have to practically sit on my left foot to keep from hitting the gas and the break at the same time .

One of my favorite things to do is to stop on a hill and then play with the gas and the clutch so that I'm not sliding backwards without putting my foot on the break. (I know, I'm a little bit crazy )

ML

I, too, am that sad person. It's a matter of pride not to use the brake on a hill, but to come to a perfect standstill using only clutch control.

Yvonne

Please tell me that's not a sudden stop!

Sue (who drove her husband crazy when she would hover on the hill with the clutch half-out and the gas pedal just-so - which is to say, of course, that I still do that. Dire predictions aside, I still haven't burned out the clutch on the car.)

Emergency situation... really happened to me. Before I learned to drive a stick a friend of mine and I were out in the middle of no where. She got very sick and was throwing up. She ended up in the emergency room, but it took us longer to get her there because I couldn't drive the stick. She kept having to stop to throw up.....


Oh, yeah!

I totally do this! And then I feel very superior thinking of all those poor automatic drivers around me.

The only complaint I have about driving an stick is that it is a major pain during rush hour, stop-and-go traffic. For that reason alone, I think my next car will probably be an automatic.

Oh, yeah, when I lived in Columbus, Ohio, I was once stuck on icy roads in slow moving traffic for three hours. My poor arthritic left knee was unhappy for a week because of all that clutch action. I vowed to never drive a stick in high traffic areas again unless I absolutely have to. (Pretty funny when you consider how much more control you have on ice with a stick.)

I drive down to D.C. one evening a week - between 5 and 6pm, and then I drive back from 8-9pm - talk about your traffic.

I don't do that very often, but I do reach down to shift. A lot. My right hand claws at air so much I've started warning people when I rent cars for business trips not to be alarmed by my spastic hand gestures ;p

I learned on a manual transmission. I own a manual. Every car my parents own is also a manual.

Automatics drive me nuts -- I cannot get used to the fact that idling forward on an automatic essentially means: lift foot off brake. Instead, I usually tap the accelerator and go rocketing forward, much to the dismay of my passengers ;p

I lived in Arlington (DC suburb) up until a year ago. Now I live a bit further out, but close enough still. Alas, DC absolutely sucks for manual drivers Stop-and-go. Stop-and-go. Stop-and-go. When I drive during peak hours my foot usually starts to hurt.

Feet, ankles, knees--I drive a subcompact (new Beetle), on top of a manual.

Not to mention, I've got a bad right knee.