Driving an automatic car - do you use one foot or both?

[cruxis]

This question was also posted on geekzone.

I first learnt to ride before driving a car, and have always driven a automatic car. Been doing this for 25 years. I got me wondering if motorcyclists are more likely to be two foot automatic drivers who do this "bad habit" . As you all know its good practice to hover your fingers over the brake lever when going through a intersection, heavy traffic etc. So I thought the same would apply to automatic car.

I do not rest my left foot on the brake pedal. I have it side and move it when needed. I have resat my license doing this and the instruction mentioned it was fine as I never rested my foot on the brake.

[F5 Dave]

Very rarely drive an auto.

Just push my left foot hard into the footwell and pretend its not working till I get out.

Super bad if you ever want to drive manual, and really, c`mon. But when people panic they can push down on both feet.

I see people following up hills and they are jerky and erratic and braking into uphill corners you just know they are driving both feet and not able to coordinate. Scary stuff.

[Gremlin]

Rode before driving, only drive autos. Only use one foot...

[Jeeper]

Starting driving manual and autos long long ago before I started riding. Left foot braking on an auto comes very handy in a 4x4 in offroad situations, particularly going downhill to control speed and ability to keep momentum going.

In city situations, I do sometimes use left foot braking but it depends on the situation.

[Swoop]

I learnt on manual transmission years ago. Stuck with it for over 30yrs.
Got an auto and drove that for many years too.

After having knee surgery there was only one option and that was leaning how to left foot brake and I've continued ever since. Right for the accelerator and left for the brake. I hover over, rather than touch the brake pedal unless actually braking.

Reaction time is less with the foot already in position, as a lot of cars can attest when I'm parked on their bumper waiting for the cunts to get the fuck out of the way...

[Woodman]

Do both usually both feet when driving in slow going. One trick slightly related I do is when I am in traffic jam type traffic I push the "icy driving" button. It makes the stop/start driving less jerky as you slowly move along.

[haydes55]

I'm a 1 foot man. But my mrs will attest to the fact I'm horrible at driving autos though.

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[Oakie]

To be honest, I don't know. I think I'm a one-footer though.

[Moi]

Normal driving, right foot does it all...


Left foot on brake when manoeuvring on a grade and you need a few revs...



Wondering... if you use your left foot, is it a religious thing?

[gsxr]

Interesting question.Given that I have raced both bikes and cars it now explains why after transgressing to an automatic I tend to left foot brake.
Rally cars its right foot hard on the go pedal and hard on the stop pedal coming into corners utilizing left foot for clutch and brake. Right foot hardly moves whereas the left foot does all the work .

[EJK]

When I first started driving I used my left foot for braking, since I rode before I drove I thought left foot had a purpose? I was pretty good at it and was smooth.

Now I drive with one foot only (right). Few weeks ago I tried left foot breaking and I nearly hit my head on the steering wheel.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Just use my right foot and feel perfectly safe despite having driven manuals for 19 years. I was however driven once by a woman who had only experience with manuals and she forgot it did not have a clutch and locked up the brakes with her left foot. We were lucky the road was dry and were traveling in town as I am sure the car would have gone into a slide/rollover if it was wet.

So, I learnt to drive in my Dad's HQ Holden (trimatic) but I learnt to DRIVE in Post Office cars. all manual. If you lock up by panic braking on a wet road, what happens is you tend to feel as if you are speeding up (you arent, just not slowing down) and go in the same direction you are travelling - you can thank Mr Newton and his Lors of Motion for that. You would be really unlucky to roll a car. Cars are quite difficult to roll over in my experience. Closest I have come was sliding sideways off the road (thankfully on a cut grass country road verge, and feeling the inside wheels come off the ground... then bump down again. That was 3 of us in on of our Mum's cars. And we had to work out how to get the grass out from between the wheel rim and tyre (both tyres on the passenger side). You just tend to slide off the road. If you are unlucky you will hit something solid. like a parked car, or a lamp post or a fence or something.

Anyway, driving like a lunatic is fun - it feels so safe, doncha think? Lend us your car? I need to practice my handbrake turns.

As for OP I used to be really sniffy about manual cars - till I realised that cars are appliances and what really matters is how good the stereo, heater, and warranty are. I have tried the left foot braking thing especially if I want to keep the revs up so the thing will pick up more quickly (car is glacially slow)... but hardly ever.

[F5 Dave]

Actually on some mornings the Van's autochoke is a bit Ricky and I'm right foot braking on ball of foot and touching the accelerator with heel carefully.

Left is operating clutch of course. Fortunately it doesn't need to be doubleDClutched down to 1st like the old mini. But you can get a dirtbike in the back so far more practical than a poxy car.

[WNJ]

Never driven a auto i since I got my licence 30 years ago,

[PeterNZ]

Driving manual - right foot is for accelerating and braking. Why would you change this when driving automatic?

Cheers

Peter

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