ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Poll: Manual or Auto??

Only for the last couple of years. Personally, I think it comes down to applying common sense. You don't want to try dialing a number while negotiating heavy traffic in a busy intersection, but is picking up a phone and pressing one button to answer a call while driving along a straight road any more "dangerous" than looking down to switch on the radio, adjust the heater, or any one of a number of other things?


It's gotten ridiculous. There was a story a while back about a cop trying to charge somebody with "careless driving" because he saw her turning and talking to her passenger -- While stopped at a red light!

It's a good job some of you don't drive in the UK, where it is illegal to use a phone while driving [unless it's a true 'hands free' type].

Alan, it's the same here in the US. Most places it's illegal too. Only difference is with Americans it's "screw you, catch me if you can!"

As for the stick vs automatic debate, I learned to drive with a stick and I'm comfortable with either. All my vehicles are automatic though and it's tough to find anything new here that isn't unless you are talking heavy truck or high end sports car. Try to find something that doesn't have A/C.

-Hal

"Try to find something that doesn't have A/C."

Why??? I love my AC! It even helps with foggy windows in the winter.

Pauluk:
You should see the looks and confusion I get sometimes when some "inexperienced" people look inside my truck and see TWO shifters.. The one on the column for the trans and the one on the floor for the transfer case... I just tell them its both an automatic AND a manual, column shift or floor shift, " Whatever I feel like driving"... That blows their mind

A.D

LOL! That reminds me of the old Land Rovers here: Three sticks on the floor with different color knobs. Black was the regular 4-speed shifter, then there were two shorter ones with red and yellow knobs (I forget which way around) for high/low trans and 2/4-wheel drive selection.

Regarding "Catch me if you can," that's been precisely my attitude to the seat-belt laws since the first one came into effect here in 1983. I hate the things and absolutely refuse to use one.

I hate the fact that there is now a law telling me to wear a seat belt.

That aside I don't drive without one outside of my driveway.

Having been in a few serious crashes I am glad I had my belt on.

Paul obviously it is your choice but I am curious why you 'hate them' unless your driving a very old car seat belts do very little to restrict normal movement.

Bob

I got my license in '74 and have always worn seat belts. It's some of the shoulder belt anchor points and inertial reels that have bugged the heck out of me over the years. I remember my older brothers always making us buckle up in the mid 60's but my dad not really caring. I'm not sure my dad's '60 Buick even came with belts, or his '64. Does anybody remember?

The only thing I've been doing differently lately is to wait until I have engine start before buckling up. Belts are great when you're moving, but not if you're burning.

Back to transmissions, just the way we talk about them is out of whack now. We tend to call a manual transmission a "standard" or a "stick". But is a manual still what comes as standard equipment or is an automatic standard? Should I start telling folks I can drive an optional transmission? And why is that old 3 on the tree accepted to mean a 3 speed Saginaw on an old GM and not a Turbo 350 with "D", "L2", and "L1"? They all have sticks sticking out of them, don't they? I love all the memories this brings back and the fact that some of the old automotive terms and phrases so commonplace then, will just make young folks cock their heads sideways and wonder if we've lost it. Thanks for the topic, Mike!
Joe

Bob,

I grew up never using seatbelts, as did my whole family. Up until about 1978 we had an older car which didn't even have any belts. I was forced to use one when I took my driver's test in '83 as the law had just been passed, but I always found the things very restrictive and uncomfortable. The only time I've ever buckled one since is to escape a police check.

There's ample evidence to show that in many types of crash a belt will actually do far more harm than good, and in fact there are many accidents on record in which a person has been killed by the belt or has escaped only because he wasn't strapped in.

As for the law, it sounds as though we're probably in agreement. Even if there were no questions about effectiveness or otherwise, in my opinion it would still be none of the government's business whether I buckle up or not.

I have had that Whole "seatbelt" thing drilled into me since I was a kid. Gotten to the point where I would AUTOMATICALLY put it on if I am moving a vehicle across the shop parking lot!!
I think its a good idea to wear them, but thats just me, and around here they are really REALLY sneaky with that whole seatbelt check thing, to the point where they hide on highway offramps and around hilly roads and things. They hide better than they do when they set up radar traps!!
A.D

Speaking of dumb looks. Watch the face of someone sitting for the first time in a mid seventies to early eighties Saab trying to find the ignition switch.

Had a 77 model 99, put a 112 thousand miles on it after I bought it used.

Stick shift for me.

TW