Roll reversal

With regards to your reply to W.B. on August 15th, I have been driving for 50 years and am now in my mid-seventies. I have never fancied an automatic, partly because you warn older people off them. However, 3 years ago my son persuaded me to try one - a Kia Picanto, almost new, and I was hooked. I have never driven it 2-footed; I put my left foot on the convenient rest and leave it there, and drive happily all over the place. I have never for one moment got in a mess with it. So, I love your column, but on this I don't agree with you.

Asked on 7 November 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
A Picanto is so small that there is less chance of killing someone with
one, but around 120 people a year are killed due to loss of control of automatics, mostly while manoeuvring. The police call it "unintentional acceleration syndrome". Pretty simply, really. You can never be 100% sure of controlling an automatic with the accelerator alone. A recent case was of an elderly gentleman who reversed into his wife of 50 years and was than unable to stop his car before he ran her over and killed her. He had always driven an automatic one footed, and, like you, trusted the car too much. Had he been driving two footed then he could have stopped instantly and this tragedy would never have occurred. Obviously you have to make your own decision about left foot braking out on the roads. Drivers with decent co-ordination can drive more smoothly that way. Those with two right feet can't. FAQ on the subject at www.honestjohn.co.uk I drive around 50 different automatics a year and around 50 different
manuals and own both manual and automatic cars.
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