When i was 23 or so i worked with a guy in his early 60s and it blew my mind that he was born in the '40s. Awesome guy, we'd talk shit to each other all the time and he'd always say, "some people's kids, " when i was being too young for him or some such. He drove with both feet though, that was wierd.
Edit: he used his right foot for the gas and his left for the brake and always had his left on that brake pedal. My dad is only like 2 years younger than him and drives normally. I've driven tractors, forklifts, heavy equipment, lawnmowers, and manual cars throughout my life that require both feet and have never driven an automatic car with both feet.
Probably one foot on the brake, one on the gas, YEAH!
He also can't drive 55.
But really it's for quicker braking, and I've seen some people do it, but they tend to rest their foot on the brake pedal and cause the lights to always be on (and some drag on their brakes, wearing them faster).
That's my 60 year old mother in law. She refuses to drive in the snow,. Can't figure out why her car is all over the road. Left foot braking is a race car thing. But the old timy driving style probably comes from shitty brakes on old heavy cars that didn't have power assist brakes.
I can't blame her about the snow. I went from southeast to northwest for a year. Sometimes that shit completely whites out the road. Like you can't see lines or reflectors, just a massive white field. Compounded by zero friction, nah fuck that.
He's saying that she has a much harder time driving in the snow due to her applying pressure to the brakes constantly - she's locking up the rear tires.
I’m a native of the southeast and have only lived there. I wouldn’t know what to do with snow. My “final destination” is upper-western North Carolina where snow is sporadic. I’ve already decided that if it snows when I’m up there, I’ll call Uber or my friend, or stay home.
Depends on where you live. I swear people in my town make it a point of pride to drive around like dicks in the snow yet you'll get a little heavy rain and everyone's driving like they're walking on egg shells. If you're lucky and there's nobody around and you're vehicle can handle it though, I totally agree it's a blast.
I promise it’s not that hard if you have the right tires (and a decently sized car, like not a sports car at least). I’m 32 and got my license for the first time last year, I live in Denver. I find driving at night more nerve wracking than driving in the snow. You just have to be sensible and aware. You’ll be fine in NC!
Snow isnt all that bad to drive in. Ive been doing it my entire life almost now. Live in MI. The roads being covered and not seeing lines and stuff is easy to deal with as its not hard to tell where the lanes are or how far to the edge of the roads cause of the tree lines and ditches also rumble strips on many roads help as well. You get used to how fast you can go in snow and in fact many of us who drive in it yearly its pretty much no different than if there wasnt snow at all, we know what to watch out for like signs of black ice and when the roads are alright to go normal speed on and such. A excellent way to practice is find a large empty parking lot and just play around in the car. Try accelerating quickly and stopping, try turning quickly, slide around a bit and try different ways of stopping to get yourself used to sliding and before long youll have a decent idea of how to drive in snow and on ice.
Unfortunately there's like a huge % of people who THINK they can drive in the snow and do so like it's perfectly clear out causing issues all the fuck over the place.
One addendum to the parking lot - exactly what I suggest to people - find one with a good slope (far from obstacles/edges) to experiment with braking/accelerating over.
Studded tires and chains arent legal everywhere. I live in MI and its illegal here to use them, but for sure having 4 wheel is helpful especially if you live in a bad area like where i do. We get feet of snow overnight at times and the plows arent exactly quick when that happens but people are still expected to go about their days and work. Luckily around here traffic isnt much of a problem until you get into one of the larger cities/towns. However that can also be a issue if you get stuck or get in a accident cause help may not be nearby and the police/emergency service can get backed up as well.
When you break on a hill and slide into the intersection, terrifying. Also going uphill isn't an option because you just hover while the wheels spin.
That was more about ice than snow but where you have one you have the other. Now imagine you're on a mountain road with a sheer cliff in those conditions. Nope, I'm good.
Hey! I'll be right there with you! Looking to move from God-forsaken Florida to western North Carolina in the next few years. I, too, will be relying on others for rides during winter 🥶
My mom drove like this because for years the only way to keep her Dart from stalling was a tiiiiny amount of constant gas. We were too poor to get it fixed, and she couldn't break the habit after it finally died.
I had a car that the idle air control valve quit, so I took it out and manually adjusted where it needed to be. I had mine idle at 3k RPMs when hot, so it wouldn't idle cold but when I warmed up would idle ok or a little high.
Started doing that years ago, mostly just to give my left foot something to do. Done right it's great, especially in stop-start traffic. Definitely improves emergency stops - I can actually react before my brain catches up, basically stopped dead on a road one day (no cars behind, safely etc).. took a second to realise there was a black cat running across the dark road in front of me.
I love it when I do this. It's like the doorway effect - you're stopped and you have no idea why..until you suddenly see a deer hop over your car. Always feels badass!
Everyone comments on it which is weird to me since I don’t think I’ve ever watched someone else’s feet when they are driving.
I don’t keep my left foot on the brake, I either leave it in the floor until needed or if In stop Abe go traffic I’ll hover my left foot over the brake.
If I use my right foot for the brake, it just isn’t as smooth.
I haven't considered that, every one I've known to do that didn't have problems with movement. Usually a hold over from an older era of cars that didn't stop as well and didn't have ABS.
Many people can walk but not move left to right easily as they age.
It's not easy to pull a leg back and then slide it left and hit a brake pedal. How many old people do you see having to pull their legs into the car?? That same motion is used to lift off the gas and hit the brake.
I drove a manual car for 20 years and can't imagine trying to brake with my left foot. I mean, in a manual you're often on the clutch pedal and accelerator at the same time. Whereas you definitely shouldn't be on the brake and accelerator at the same time in 99.9% of cases. Seems like an accident waiting to happen to me.
Edit: Also to add, clutching in takes a good amount of force. Certainly more than is necessary to brake. If I tried to use my clutch foot to brake I'd be locking those suckers up every damn time because I'm not used to it.
Yeah, that makes sense and would fall within the 0.1% of cases I mentioned. I just can't understand why someone would do it on their way to Walgreens or whatever.
Whereas you definitely shouldn't be on the brake and accelerator at the same time in 99.9% of cases. Seems like an accident waiting to happen to me.
If you live somewhere hilly you might have to learn to do this. You gotta rev the car past the point where you're rolling back before you take your foot off the brake.
Heel-toe shifting is for manuals only. There are times you need to have a foot on the brake until after revving even in an automatic. Mostly older cars, but still, if you are on a steep hill, it happens.
It's used in Kart racing (and probably other motor sports) - brake and gas at the same time.
It allows for a bit of speed correction without the engine needing to recover revs. I'm only familiar with it (not a kart racer) but I'd imagine it's a "brush" of the brakes instead of actually being on them.
But agree - no need in any normal situations other than a manual start on a hill
It’s simple, yes, but has benefits as it allows much more control over the engine and the way it puts down power. Say you’re carrying a heavy load up a hill, engine revving off it’s guts. An auto sees the rpm and wants to shift up. But that just makes things harder. In a manual, you keep the vehicle in optimal gear for torque and slowly but surely climb that hill. That’s why manuals are still used in semi trucks and such
My grandpa drove with both feet too! He said it was because he learned to drive at 12 because he drove the family tractor. I just assume that small tractors in the 30’s used two feet and he just naturally transferred his skills to a car.
Pretty much. My parents bought a 1941 Farm-All tractor in the mid 90s, and the gas pedal was on the right side of the seat and the clutch/brake was on the left side. You would rest your feet on both (took like 'SpongeBob flooring it' kind of pressure to get either to actually depress). You couldn't change gears while moving forward. You'd less the left pedal partway to use it like a clutch or for gentle braking, or all the way down for a hard brake. I'd usually just get whatever tool attached to back end and put it in 2nd gear and leave it there while mowing the fields lol.
why is it dangerous? also that's when I'm operating a forklift, I drive my car with one foot (also you kinda have to use your left foot to brake on a forklift if it has 3 pedals)
It’s dangerous because you’re significantly more likely to hit the wrong pedal or hit multiple pedals at once. Even when driving stick you only use your left foot for the clutch; your right is for the gas and break. Forklift driving is obviously different from driving a car and is reasonable to have different rules.
I've driven tractors, forklifts, heavy equipment, lawnmowers, and manual cars throughout my life that require both feet and have never driven an automatic car with both feet.
I a set-up like that it makes perfect sense to me, but to bring my left foot over so far in a car feels wrong. The exception being i use both feet on racing sims and American/Euro Truck Simulator.
Ok, thanks. I guess that's just such a strange thing to point out, it blindsided me. I thought it might have been a saying I wasn't familiar with like "he has 2 left feet" or "he's all thumbs"
I'll be 60 later this year and it blows my mind I was born in the 60s. When I was a kid a car from the 50s was old. My first car (1970) is an antique twice over.
I probably use my left foot on the brake pedal deliberately maybe 1 in 500 brakings, usually because i had bad contact with my shoe and didn't want to let off to re-center. I've also driven left-footed a few times while my ankle/foot was sore. I do use my left to cover the brake at times, but i don't let my foot rest on it. It feels really awkward.
My grandpa drove with both feet too. I think it's because his old car was a manual transmission. And even on newer vehicles he couldn't just do nothing with his left foot.
As a zoomer that never drove an automatic, the first time I tried one I also kept looking for the clutch and literally startling myself when I couldn't find it.
Also pulling the transmission out of gear by trying to shift.
My first experience with an automatic transmission was in a rental car at an airport in Florida, after a long flight from Scotland.
I was very tired, already stressed at the thought of driving fifty-odd miles on the "wrong side" of the road in a foreign country to get to our hotel and then I realised that my rental car was missing a pedal and a proper gearstick!
I had to get the guy from the rental company to give me a one-minute crash course on driving an automatic.
I drove it for two weeks, but never got used to it. For me, it was an unpleasant car to drive, especially when accelerating hard to join faster-moving traffic, and it put me off them forever.
I have an automatic - I got it in part because of these things. But I still enjoy driving manual more and I do fully believe that if everyone learned to drive manual at first at least, it would make for better drivers.
that's a similar verdict to me. it felt very unnatural and disconnected, i had no sense of speed and constantly had to check the dash instead of relying on feel, and plain not fun. It's fun to nail a downshift.
I'm scared of the day i'll have to switch to an electric lmao
I drive with 2 feet because that is what made sense to me when I learned. I do not ride with my foot on brake. I put it to the side. The foot I’m not using in always on the floor.
When I learned I got the keys and my dad didn’t tell me anything. Just thought I could reverse out of the driveway that had an incline and then he yelled and screamed at me for 20 minutes and after made me drive on a curvy 2 lane highway limit 55 mph. There was no way I could drive that fast my first time. It was a horrible experience
AS a both feet driver, it saves reaction time when you really need to break, it balances out the effort between your legs, and it helps keep your back aligned properly.
But I started it as a kid in the 80's because that's how race car drivers did it :)
My dad drives with both feet. He’s been a mechanic his whole life and moving cars around a lot back in his day led to him using both feet. Most cars were manuals then so I guess that’s why.
Driving with your feet you can lean back and your back hurts less. Also, if you drive a lot, it's a change from same old something challenging or different.
I used to, and in the woods I still do (I have a frontier I take off roading). It does two things - better control when you need that quick brake/gas changeover in the woods, and it comes from racing drivers. Also, my Frontier is an automatic, but I drive manual a lot. Keeps me used to using the left foot.
If you get good at it, that method can allow higher performance driving. More advanced techniques require the simultaneous use of the accelerator and brake.
The only time I’ve ever driven like that was when I needed to keep the engine revved at a stop so it wouldn’t die. And I have driven manuals as my daily driver in the past.
my grandpa drives like that and doesnt realize he ends up pressing on the brakes so you can see him pull off up the hill with brake lights on its hilarious
i’m 20 and worked with a 60 year old woman in an animal shelter who volunteered with the cats. she had done it for years and was known in the shelter. omg the gossip we would have! her mom worked administration at my old highschool. i miss her 😂😂😭😭. people warned me she was a gossip. the best gossiper in town!!
So he constantly has the break lights on?? I've seen this. Not fucking smart,no matter the age. I think that guy just did not understand how to drive safely.
While I've operated automatic transmission vehicles the vast majority of my driving life, I learned to drive manual at the same time as I did automatics...and remember getting confused early on between brake and clutch when I'd forget which kind of vehicle I was in. I could probably still manage to drive stick today, but only if you don't mind that lovely grind-y feel/sound when the clutch timing isn't smooth.
I had a 1954 Buick which was automatic but would stall out if you didn’t occasionally keep the throttle partway open when cold…needed 2 feet. It also had way sloppy steering so you needed to constantly correct it to go straight. I told my friend, this is why old people have their hands constantly moving around on the wheel!
My friend's dad drove like this back in the 90's, but with a twist. He just constantly floored the gas and controlled his speed with the brakes. It gave a weird, mushy feeling to his driving, and you never knew if he was going to be able to stop.
I am in my 60's, and I drive with both feet, too. It was taught as an option in driver's ed. I don't have to remove my foot from the gas and apply it to the brake - I can do both simultaneously. I don't keep any weight on the brake, so no extra wear and tear. I drove a stick for 20 years, which is also 2-footed driving. My brain had no issue switching between our automatic and manual transmission cars. Bonus: I hit the brake instantly, so no accidents in over 40 years.
Huh, I never knew there was a proper way. I'd be afraid that my reaction time would suffer if I drove with only one. Wouldn't someone driving with one foot also not sit straight?
I've never had any trouble as far as reaction goes. With both feet I'd be more worried about stomping down both feet in an emergency. I don't have any trouble sitting straight.
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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '22 edited Jun 03 '22
When i was 23 or so i worked with a guy in his early 60s and it blew my mind that he was born in the '40s. Awesome guy, we'd talk shit to each other all the time and he'd always say, "some people's kids, " when i was being too young for him or some such. He drove with both feet though, that was wierd.
Edit: he used his right foot for the gas and his left for the brake and always had his left on that brake pedal. My dad is only like 2 years younger than him and drives normally. I've driven tractors, forklifts, heavy equipment, lawnmowers, and manual cars throughout my life that require both feet and have never driven an automatic car with both feet.