Two driving skills that seem to be dying out

[Billy_Kinetta]

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.

I can see that. Muscle memory would have me trying to shift the steering wheel and turn the shift.

 

[asaratis]

I've owned several types of small trailers with 2" ball hitches. Every vehicle I've had since 1978 had a hitch installed soon after I got it. I built a flat bed trailer with an extra long tongue to make it easier to back through an opening just barely wider than the trailer.
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I learned a trick from an old fisherman in the early '80s and my '78 F250 4WD with 4 speed floor shift soon had a hitch receiver and a 2" ball on front and back. It's amazing how simple it is to back a boat trailer along a serpentine path when it's hitched to the front of a truck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My rear hitch receiver was designed (by me) and included a hitch assembly with a vertical sleeve to accept a 2½" solid steel pin that held a 250 lb handmade grill/smoker right behind the tailgate and a 2" ball that was about 18" behind the custom made 4" square tube bumper. The trailer tongue was offset downward about 8" behind the ball socket so that the horizontal part of the tongue was several inches below the bottom of the bumper.

In backing the trailer, I could let the angle between the extended centerline of the truck and the trailer tongue go well beyond 90°. I think the maximum was close to 135° before the trailer actually touched any part of the truck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn! I miss those days!

 

[asaratis]

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!

I once had a floor shift truck that I "fixed" the shift stick so all you had to do to remove it was to lift it straight up. When my jug fishin' buddy and I would go to a remote river landing, launch the boat and leave the truck and trailer there, I'd leave the transmission in neutral and take the shifter with us...along with the distributor cap.

 

[westwall]

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 just had to back my trailer the 1/4 mile from the street to my house. Every three months I do a dump run.

I joined the 200mph club in my GT40. No real GT40 will EVER have a automatic transmission.

 

[Concerned American]

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.

I got my education in Japan. The whole thing fucked me up. Got in a wreck when someone decided to make a right turn. My brain thought "right turn, you can pass" Wrong, broadsided that puppy, wiped my bike out but luckily came out without a scratch. Note to self, Do not drive impaired. LOL

 

[Sunni Man]

I got my education in Japan. The whole thing fucked me up. Got in a wreck when someone decided to make a right turn. My brain thought "right turn, you can pass" Wrong, broadsided that puppy, wiped my bike out but luckily came out without a scratch. Note to self, Do not drive impaired. LOL

I didn't know that. ...
Just assumed the Jap's drove on the right side of the road due to the years of US occupation.

 

[Concerned American]

I got my education in Japan. The whole thing fucked me up. Got in a wreck when someone decided to make a right turn. My brain thought "right turn, you can pass" Wrong, broadsided that puppy, wiped my bike out but luckily came out without a scratch. Note to self, Do not drive impaired. LOL

I didn't know that. ...
Just assumed the Jap's drove on the right side of the road due to the years of US occupation.

It surprised me too. I was expecting right side driving as well. I guess Australia is another country where they drive on the left.

 

[Cecilie1200]

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)

I insist on my kids learning to drive a stick shift, because I believe it gives a much better understanding of what you're doing and how the car is operating that you can carry over to an automatic transmission. I'll tell you, though, it's getting harder and harder to FIND a manual transmission vehicle to train on.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

After riding motorcycles in my youth driving a stick shift was really no different.
As someone else said,grew up around tractors so backing up a trailer was easy by the time I got my license. People get intimidated when it comes to backing up long trailers when they're actually easier than a short one.

 

[Cecilie1200]

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

So there.

I can parallel park a tractor-trailer. So there.

 

[Unkotare]

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?

Fewer and fewer people can pay attention while driving.

 

[WinterBorn]

After riding motorcycles in my youth driving a stick shift was really no different.
As someone else said,grew up around tractors so backing up a trailer was easy by the time I got my license. People get intimidated when it comes to backing up long trailers when they're actually easier than a short one.

I have been backing trailers since before I could legally drive. The worst time I ever had was backing an LED sign board (flashing arrows used for traffic control). From hitch to rear bumper, the trailer was only 12' long. You could THINK of turning and it would jacknife.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

After riding motorcycles in my youth driving a stick shift was really no different.
As someone else said,grew up around tractors so backing up a trailer was easy by the time I got my license. People get intimidated when it comes to backing up long trailers when they're actually easier than a short one.

I have been backing trailers since before I could legally drive. The worst time I ever had was backing an LED sign board (flashing arrows used for traffic control). From hitch to rear bumper, the trailer was only 12' long. You could THINK of turning and it would jacknife.

Yep..
You have to have a light touch when backing up a short trailer.

 

[Cecilie1200]

After riding motorcycles in my youth driving a stick shift was really no different.
As someone else said,grew up around tractors so backing up a trailer was easy by the time I got my license. People get intimidated when it comes to backing up long trailers when they're actually easier than a short one.

I have been backing trailers since before I could legally drive. The worst time I ever had was backing an LED sign board (flashing arrows used for traffic control). From hitch to rear bumper, the trailer was only 12' long. You could THINK of turning and it would jacknife.

Yep..
You have to have a light touch when backing up a short trailer.

I think a lot of people don't understand the physics of the operation and/or aren't used to thinking in those terms.

 

[WinterBorn]

After riding motorcycles in my youth driving a stick shift was really no different.
As someone else said,grew up around tractors so backing up a trailer was easy by the time I got my license. People get intimidated when it comes to backing up long trailers when they're actually easier than a short one.

I have been backing trailers since before I could legally drive. The worst time I ever had was backing an LED sign board (flashing arrows used for traffic control). From hitch to rear bumper, the trailer was only 12' long. You could THINK of turning and it would jacknife.

Yep..
You have to have a light touch when backing up a short trailer.

I think a lot of people don't understand the physics of the operation and/or aren't used to thinking in those terms.

My grandfather told me two things that have stuck with me when I am backing a trailer.

#1 - Put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel, and move it the direction you want the trailer to go.
#2 - Never turn the wheel more than 1/4 turn.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

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

Dopey broads constantly on the road with phone in hand looking down ....theyre everywhere

Stick no problem
Backing up trailer ...I can manage...
When I had the warehouse we had an independent driver who would deliver from fall river ...that mofo could swing a trailer into just about any space

 

[jbrownson0831]

Sunni Man look up the giant roundabout surrounded by like 5-6 other roundabouts outside Hemel-Hempstead in England. Aaarrrgh!

 

[Unkotare]

I recall driving a forklift was pretty damn fun.

 

[hjmick]

When I learned to drive it was in a '67 Landcruiser with three on the tree...

 

[Mr Natural]

Do they still make cars with stick shifts?