Two driving skills that seem to be dying out

[WinterBorn]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

 

[TNHarley]

I can do both. I was backing trailers up on a golf/utility cart when I was 12 years old picking up limbs and such.
Sticks arent that hard. I taught my sons mother how to drive a stick and she is dumber than a doornail.

 

[Gabe Lackmann]

I took to a manual transmission like a duck to water. I literally jumped in, was instructed on RPM, clutch operation, and I was off.

Pushing or backing a trailer into position...I am a complete retard. I have tried multiple times and I jackknife and jackknife.

 

[Sunni Man]

 

[JGalt]

They still make automatic transmissions? Last time I owned one of those was back in the 70's.

 

[MarathonMike]

My first experience with a stick was a rental car. After the initial terror wore off I really liked it and bought a stick shift car the next year and drove it for a long time. Never tried backing up a trailer.

 

[mdk]

These were requirements for us hill people that farmed. My friends marvel at these skills, but it's nothing more than necessity and years of practice.

 

[Moonglow]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

All the people I work with can do all and my kids to boot, so no, I don't see what you are claiming.

I have seen people many years ago trying to put a boat into water on a ramp and could not back it up to save their lives even when using a "stick shift"(sounds dirty) standard transmission.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

My problem with driving is that people seem to have forgotten what the handle on the left side of the steering column is for. What, am i supposed to use ESP to figure out why the moron in front of me is slowing down? Turn Signals used to be having to put your arm out the window, but someone thought it better to keep legs and arms inside the ride at all times, and signal you intentions with flashing lights...


There was a trucker i was listening to on the CB a while back, when the car in front of him didnt use his turn signal the trucker wondered if the cars blinker fluid was a little low....That was a great line.

 

[marvin martian]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

I taught my teenage daughters to drive stick, and it amazes their friends. LOL! I call my stick shift a "millennial anti-theft device", too! (thanks Sunni Man)

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

My first experience with a stick was a rental car. After the initial terror wore off I really liked it and bought a stick shift car the next year and drove it for a long time. Never tried backing up a trailer.

In the Air Force i got trained on a deuce and a half to pull a trailer from Davis Monthan AFB to Nellis AFB. 16 speeds and double clutch, man my legs got real tired quick..

 

[mdk]

They may not be able to drive stick, but at least they text and post pictures to Instagram while killing you in a head-on collision, so there's that I guess. lol

 

[Sunni Man]

Went to England about 10 years ago on business.
It was almost impossible to rent a car with automatic transmission because everyone there drives a stick to save on petrol.
Don't get me wrong. All I drove as a teenager was a four on the floor.
But driving on the wrong side of the road was bad enough, and shifting with my left hand was just too much for my brain to handle.
Thankfully, the car rental place after about an hours wait scrounged up a car with an automatic transmission.
Still driving on the left side of the road while negotiating a round-about was no picnic. ...

 

[Moonglow]

My first experience with a stick was a rental car. After the initial terror wore off I really liked it and bought a stick shift car the next year and drove it for a long time. Never tried backing up a trailer.

In the Air Force i got trained on a deuce and a half to pull a trailer from Davis Monthan AFB to Nellis AFB. 16 speeds and double clutch, man my legs got real tired quick..

You should have done like several drivers I knew drove, clutch free, just grind that stick into position.

 

[InstantOn]

My mechanic is trying to sell my late husband's manual transmission sporty car. It's in beautiful shape, but so far no takers.

The first car I owned was a 3 cylinder Saab with an on-the-column shifter. I sold it when my ex returned from Vietnam. He was going to wreck it for sure since the shifting pattern was different from a Jeep's. BTW, that Saab required a fill up consisting of 8 gallons of gas with a pint of special oil added to the tank. The mechanic who understood it best specialized in out-board engines. Full service (remember them) gas station workers would freak out when I handed them the oil and told them what to do.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

I can drive the stick, back up the trailer AND parallel park it.

So there.

 

[Concerned American]

They still make automatic transmissions? Last time I owned one of those was back in the 70's.

I haven't owned a manual transmission in a car or truck since the 80s. Still get the fix off of riding motorcycles though.

 

[JGalt]

They still make automatic transmissions? Last time I owned one of those was back in the 70's.

I haven't owned a manual transmission in a car or truck since the 80s. Still get the fix off of riding motorcycles though.

My wife has problems driving something with an automatic transmission. She hates them.

She can't drive in reverse very well either. Sometimes I back the car all the way up the long driveway and she says I'm just "showing off."

 

[Concerned American]

They still make automatic transmissions? Last time I owned one of those was back in the 70's.

I haven't owned a manual transmission in a car or truck since the 80s. Still get the fix off of riding motorcycles though.

My wife has problems driving something with an automatic transmission. She hates them.

She can't drive in reverse very well either. Sometimes I back the car all the way up the long driveway and she says I'm just "showing off."

I drove manual transmissions exclusively for the first twenty years of driving, but they aren't offered as standard equipment in most of the cars I drive now--to be honest, I've gotten lazy too.

 

[norwegen]

Went to England about 10 years ago on business.
It was almost impossible to rent a car with automatic transmission because everyone there drives a stick to save on petrol.
Don't get me wrong. All I drove as a teenager was a four on the floor.
But driving on the wrong side of the road was bad enough, and shifting with my left hand was just too much for my brain to handle.
Thankfully, the car rental place after about an hours wait scrounged up a car with an automatic transmission.
Still driving on the left side of the road while negotiating a round-about was no picnic. ...

When I drove in the UK, I thought shifting with the left hand was trickier than driving on the wrong side of the road.