Because most people are driving automatics and don’t know what it takes to get moving after they stopped. A stick shift driver with 10+ years of experience such as yourself would leave a big enough gap, NOT follow the flow of traffic, and slowly crawling while the car in front of you stands firmly on the brakes. That’s what I did when i was living in Los Angeles with a stick shift car.
If more people are driving stick shifts, looking far ahead, and avoid unnecessary stops(unlike most automatic drivers who are oblivious to traffic far away), we would all get home a lot sooner. I think this is the point the article in they original post is trying to make.
I think the expert in the article should stick to brains instead of machines. And I don’t really care what else people are doing while driving as long as driving is the priority behind the wheel. A stick shift car requires a different level of attention and more often than not, you have to drop everything to attend to the car. Even when you’re eating, talking on the phone, or whatever the car needs you to place it in the correct gear and plan ahead according to traffic.
For example, wherever I teach people to drive a stick, I tell them to stop sooner when waiting for a left turn, leave more room to make a nice, smooth launch in a straight line before the car they want to turn behind has passed, and only turn the wheel when the left foot is completely off of the clutch so that there’s no chance of stalling in the middle of the turn. Automatics adapts to changes to traffic so most drivers are not planning ahead anymore.
I have to pay attention when I drive because traffic is insane. It doesn’t matter what transmission I have. I prefer an automatic for commuting because my left leg would eventually hurt from overuse. I used to drive stick, but I don’t miss the experience at all during rush hour.
You people seem to attribute a lot of your own behavior (and the behavior of other drivers) to a method of changing gears. I drive automatics, manuals, and I ride a manual motorcycle, and I am no more diligent and aware of what’s going on around when shifting gears than when I’m not.
I can’t read through these comments without drowning in speculation and confirmation bias, and without noticing how many behavioral claims are made without one iota of evidence to substantiate them. At least this editorial appeared in the NY Times’ opinion section.
I’ve been driving a stick shift so long that I seldom have to think about it, but it is one more thing to think about when I’m driving. I’m a big fan of manual transmissions, but only because I like them, and I admit that shifting gears manually is multi-tasking in the same way as operating the radio or drinking a cup of coffee. Sometimes downshifting in traffic means taking my eyes off the road and looking at the speedometer.
We all have a way of finding reasons the thing we like is better than the thing someone else likes. That goes for Vatsal G. Thakkar and all of us.
All these guys that wrote in and said how much fun it is to drive stick need to drive a class 8 truck equipped with an eaton fuller standard transmission with straight-cut gears
I think paying attention is just the bare minimum and sometimes its not enough. That’s when you react to something when the environment in which you’re driving changes. Planning ahead is a behavior that most drivers are lacking today. When you ride your motorcycle on the streets, do you drag your knee at every corner or do you choose a speed that lets you straighten out and brake if necessary? You plan for the possible hazard that you cannot see and react to it as necessary
Most drivers of automatics transmission vehicles in traffic reacts to the gap in front of them, add power to fill that gap, and brake to a standstill when the gap is filled either by themselves or others. Many tripedalist do this as well while complaining about what a pain it is to drive a stick in traffic. They eventually ditch their manual for an automatic, exacerbating the problem.
I learned to drive along side or follow truckers in heavy traffic. Those guys can see far ahead and they are the ones who choose the speed that allows them to crawl along as long as possible. I’m just saying if we have more people planning ahead, perhaps we can get rid a lot of these phantom road blocks in traffic.
Speaking of motorcycles and planning ahead, I was going straight while someone special was forcing his way to make a left turn in front of me. With 2 babies in the car, I just stopped and waited. Literally half a second after I stopped, a motorcycle taxi passed me on the right and dove into the car that’s turning in front of me, without wearing a helmet. I’m sure he was paying enough attention to recognize a car has stopped in the middle of the street and went around me. But it never occur to the motorcyclist why someone in front of him was stopping in the middle of the street. This is what I meant by the lack of planning that’s causing traffic jams and phantom road blocks. I’m not saying that manual transmission will solve this lack of planning issue, but putting more automation on the road is not helping unless automation can completely replace the act of driving
