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> so they can keep both hands on the wheel and devote more attention to what's happening outside. That was my point though. When driving a manual, your hands a
by wcarron 8y ago
> so they can keep both hands on the wheel and devote more attention to what's happening outside.
That was my point though. When driving a manual, your hands are either A) on the wheel, or B) one on wheel, other shifting gears. You can't really do much else. Maybe drink coffee if you're sitting in the same gear over distance, but in suburban traffic with stop lights and signs and turns, you can't afford to do much more than drive, shift, and execute maneuvers like lane changes, turns, etc.
There's far less opportunity to do things like text, read, rubberneck, etc. I.E. Devote more attention to what's happening outside.
- Dylan16807 8y agoAt the times that an automatic most easily lets your attention wander, driving at a consistent speed, a manual does no more to keep you engaged. It keeps you more focused on the car at lights and turns, but that might be a bad thing. I want to be focused on the cross traffic, not my engine.
- nradov 8y agoIf your hypothesis is correct then we would expect to see auto insurers offering lower rates for manual transmission vehicles due to a lower risk of crashes. Do you have any evidence for that?
- brianpgordon 8y agoTo be fair, that would be hopelessly skewed by the propensity of illegal racers (and other people who think it's fun to drive powerful cars really fast on public roads) to prefer manuals.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y agoI'd argue that those people are bad drivers.
- brianpgordon 8y agoThat's the point.