Another manual, San Francisco driver. It gets pretty exciting!

re: bicycles. Fixies have been all the rage for several years now.
http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/

I was a manual driver until about 5 years ago when we bought an automatic because my husband hates to drive manual. We are basically a one car household, so a compromise was needed. It was hard to give up the manual, but the things we do for the people we love.

I have driven a manual in SF, many times - we only had manuals in our family for years and years. My mom learned to drive in SF in a VW square-back wagon, manual transmission. I hadn't been driving long, still had my permit, the first time I drove in SF. We had a Chevy blazer, which definitely did not have a precision transmission.

I'm amazed that many American kids don't learn to ride bikes - with the sprawling suburbs we've got, I find this shocking.

november_moon - I, too, learned how to drive a manual in SF with my learner's permit. In fact, my parents let me drive the whole way from Tahoe and the whole time we were visiting the grandparents. Even though I haven't lived there in years I can still see every turn of Hwy 50 going down the mountain. Being able to drive a manual is a great skill to have. One of my sisters never learned and can't drive one at all.

I drive with both feet (automatic transmission) right foot on the gas, left foot on the break & both hands on the steering wheel! Always have since I was a teenager.

A foolish question! Americans even have a song about this very subject, taught in early childhood. In short --
1. Put left foot in.
2. Put left foot out.
3. Put left foot in.
4. Then shake it all about.

Suze why do you do that? Is that how you were taught?
Most experts in defensive driving advise not using the left foot to brake but rather using the left foot to steady/balance your body. Use your right foot to accelerate and also to brake.

I don't know why. It's just the way I've always driven. I am only even aware of it (to be able to answer this question) because friends have commented on it.

p.s. I have a lifelong clean driving record so I guess it must work out OK!

Did the person who taught you how to drive do the left foot thing?

Nope

Did he/she tell you not to do the left foot thing?? LOL:)
I am v/ curious about this. The only person I have ever known who brakes w/ his left foot is my cousin. And, he taught his GF(later wife) how to drive & she does the left foot thing too. It is very unusual....but I guess you knew that already!! :)

No actually I didn't know this was "very unusual". There's two pedals in the car (automatic transmission) and I've got two feet/legs. It seems perfectly natural to me. And feels more controlled than moving only the right foot back and forth.

My mother taught me to drive when I was 15 years old. Plus Drivers' Ed. in high school. Honestly I don't remember how I drove then, or what anyone said about it. That was a LONG time ago ;-)

My husband and son do the left foot on the brake thing, too.

Sounds pretty unsafe! But anyway it will keep others away from you when you accelerate and let the brake lights light up at the same time. Good for them but not very nice. :-). You'd get a ticket.

I don't accelerate with my foot on the brakes... sheez!

So where do you put your right foot when you hit the brakes with your left foot? :-)

Driving a stick shift is a life skill that everyone should have. It's like learning to swim, which fork to use, or not pick your nose in public. Anyone who neglects teaching their kids those things (and others) is failing as a parent. Really limits your options for car rental in most of the rest of the world if you can't drive stick.

When I was working my way through school, I drove a stick shift Yellow Cab in San Francisco on the night shift. I'm driving an automatic, at the moment, but I really miss choosing my own gear ratio at times.

:-)

nukesafe~ I guess I'll have to let my dear Mom know she failed as a parent then (since I never learned to drive a stick shift).

logos~ You don't "put" your right foot anywhere, you just lift it off the gas pedal.

Some drivers use their left foot for braking.

The right hand is used to operate the radio, heat, a/c, to eat snacks, and to fondle the person in the passenger seat.

HTTY