I'd contest that you can develop the muscle memory and coordination necessary to utilize both feet in terms of funcionality sensitivity and reflex speed.just because people have a definite dominate foot(probably the one that taps along to zeppelin) the same way they have a dominant hand does not mean the task therefore becomes impossible by default. to me its like playing baseball with one hand sure the right one may be dominant in most people and therefore better suited for both catching and throwing but for all intended purposes is impractical.you may miss the first few pitches to you(which is why regardless of one or two feet you dont just send a kid into the freeway) but you develop the coordination and muscle memory required to perform the task at hand,and before long your reflexes allow you to perform the action more quickly than your dominant hand.and so in an automobile would say the same is true for the left foot brake,especially not taking into account the transition time which i would completely disagree with you on as your either swinging or sliding your foot over or using some multi point articulated foot gesture(all of which seem to take more muscle memory for arguments sake),and it does take more time.and if under duress could lead to application of too much pressure because the reason for sudden application is now that sec closer and quite a few feet depending on relative speed and you just jerkkneed panicked under imminent threat,versus the application of smooth or intermittent pressure from jump with the foot already in vicinity,to prevent lock and retaining the other foot for bracing purposes(would note especially in vehicles equipped with drivers side above head "oh $#!+ handles" which simplify left side bracing,and is a little negligible a point in racing vehicles with bucket seat and or 5 point harnesses equipped for handling speed and Gs)or gas if situation is such that you may be able to torquesteer or need to do so in order to correct(or or on icy surface....happy holidays),with these examples being more relative to hightorqued and pre abs,active stability or traction controlled vehicles....sound familiar? so too me, its like saying take your hand off the wheel when you shift.
Dude, that is the longest sentence I have ever read. I think I agree with you but I'm not sure. LMAO!
good to hear,paragraph structure and grammar were never among my strong points,but run on sentences,definetly within my wheel house.
i still like both feet in automatics,sure for general commuting in medium well spaced traffic is not as necessary,can just loaf the one foot around,enjoy morning coffee,think about how much more fun AT commuter would be with a five speed and v8. but when it becomes tight and wall to wall with no one wanting to give anyone an inch because that one car length of distance is theirs by divine right apparently,or theres no way they're gonna let that volvo beat them in the daily commuter 500,or just roadrage impatient sudden merge with a good 10 foot turn signal.i feel both feet is the way to go,quicker response time and can prevent downshifts into powerband with feather throttle or pegging,and more actively manage vehicle spacing with the other foot,and just focus on smoothness(ride quality) and fuel economy.also on longer hauls in automatics guess it could be a.d.d. kicking in, but am fond of actively using both pedals to keep it pegged in powerband,or prevent a downshift to get better exit speed from a corner especially here in montana where there used to be no speed limit and a section of highway may very well still be listed as 75 with no additional guidance for what would usually be labeled as 35 to 55 mile corners in areas that are "nanny" states or just have a large pool of inmates for highway maintenance,and so with posted limit being as such can legally give them a bit of play.....and the left foot something to do. also note when i say both pedals usually dont mean both at once,brakes are expensive,would hate to have to change them more than my tires.
My wife bought a new Hyundai 2011 and its equiped with the latest "STUPID" safety feature a brake--gas interlock!! I'm a two footer caused by a sometimes painful right knee thats been with me for 30 years. I switched to two foot because when the leg hurts I found I would wait to the last minute to lift and apply brakes. Any way I found I had a hell of a time with her new car as there's a delay after your foot leaves the brake before the gas works then it gradually applies power. Last one of these I will ever own! When someones comming at you you need power now not when some engineer decided to program the delay. Of course when the power comes on and you are in the middle of a turn its doubly interesting. I think the safety feature is solely for the company so they don't have unintended acceleration problems like Toyota.
The argument I posed to my Dad against driving with both feet was that in a panic stop or collision situation, if you use your left foot for the brake, and your right foot is still positioned over the accelerator, inertia pushing you forward could cause you to involuntarily mash on the accelerator.
:TU: This was back when the belts were still thought a nuisance, and tucked into the seats out of sight. ou:
back when you could ask an officer to hold your beer while you fished out your registration,and he'd hand it back after a reminder to get your tail light fixed and a good jaw about how "aint those mets a bunch o lowsy bums or what,there,i tell ya what'
That's interesting to me. I have had several leg injuries over 30 years; Torn ligaments in my ankle, Broken bone, two knee surgeries . All of these to my right leg. When my right leg had too much pain to drive, I propped my pained leg up on the trans hump and with my left foot.
there we go,theres some people who make it sound impossible to work a brake with the left foot,let alone a brake and clutch,(yet its ok manipulate the brake and gas with just the other one?)so its good to have an example of all 3 being worked with the left foot(that daniel day lewis movie wasnt about you was it?)shame what you had to go through though,(hope it wasnt from using left foot for all 3,may kinda lose a bit of hard fought ground in this discussion)and if its any consolation way to take one for the team,and i thank you for the good story. thats definetly a good case for the ability of the left foot being able to be every bit as useful as the right,and come to think of it has anyone here ever tried to clutch with the right foot?who knows,maybe the left one was better all along and henry ford and old man daimler were just weird.
From Jalopnik; Step one: Find Model T. Step two: Hands are for spark and throttle. Step three: Pedals clutch, reverse, brake. Step four: Forget everything you think you know about cars. Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/NYT [NYT]
yeah,definetly have to have nothing but respect for the guys who were able to get the most out of those oldschool,well first school(i guess could be argued wasnt a school yet because curriculum was just being invented),cars and motorcycles.not sure how confident id be trying to hang a corner while adjusting my timing, choke,fuel air mix,etc in addition to gear management. now those are some whitewalls ---------- Post added at 07:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 PM -------- though i think i'd rather deal with making engine adjustments while i am moving over this
From the vaults........... I left foot brake in with an auto trans. I probably picked up the habit when driving forklifts in the 198os. I managed to go from manual to auto trans and back with no issues. Maybe it's the way my brain is wired, I use a RH computer mouse with my left hand, as does my Dad and a paternal cousin. Or perhaps it started when I had a stick shift, column stalked 4 cylinder car, and would change to my '63 Bel Air without effort.
I learned to drive on a 1926 Ford that I still own today. I took my driving test on my dad's 1925 Ford Turing Car. No turn signals, no brake lights, no seat belts, and a hand crank start. Sometimes you just don't have enough hands and feet to operate ever thing as quickly as you would like to. Once you get into high gear, with the top down and those 21 horses pushing you down the road, it's a fun ride. My '70 GS is a 4-speed so just like the cars I learned to drive on, but with a few more horses, it's a fun ride too.
I always drove with 2 feet but with my electric car I don’t have to use 2 feet even in the corners. It has what they call 1-pedal driving. What you do is set the regenerative braking on, then when you take your foot off the “gas” pedal the car slows down. If I am going into a curve, I let off the gas a little, the car slows down as it goes into the curve, then once in the curve I push the pedal down and the car accelerates. It makes curves fun. Duane PS, Life is the curves.
