In the state of Kansas, a teen can obtain a restricted driver’s license at the ripe age of fifteen years old, with the completion of drivers education. This was the age that I got my license at and while it sounds precarious, the process that I took in obtaining my license is a dying method, that along with it, quality drivers will diminish in.
When learning how to drive, my parents made it a requirement that I learn how to drive a manual transmission car before I drive anything else. If you can imagine a 14-year-old girl pleading to drive an automatic car first, you wouldn’t be very convinced. Why was there such hesitancy? It’s because as I sat in the Sutherlands parking lot by my house, I found out the most difficult part about learning to drive manual was learning how to get out of first gear. Easing my left foot off of the clutch and my right foot onto the gas pedal was an extreme lesson of control that taught me to not rely on the car, but on myself. When I learned how to do that and do it well, I began to trust in my ability to understand the way my car was moving when I was driving. As I was stuck in traffic or on hills, it became incredibly important to be aware of what gear the car may be in, and how to balance in and out of first gear. By coping with a situation such as that, driving a manual transmission taught me to adapt on the road instead of freezing up when I encounter a challenge.
As such, one of the biggest issues in teen driving is distractions. When you’re the car with friends, there are text notifications you don’t want to miss, with music in the background, a friend talking to you, and a highway exit you must make. In a brand-new automatic car, teenagers’ focus pans to CarPlay map directions and drivers can easily lose track of the speed they are going when gear shifting is not something they have to worry about. In a manual car, mental rigidity was something I worried about on a daily basis. In high school, I was trusted with driving my mom’s manual car every day to school, work, and when I went out with friends. If there was even one moment where my mind felt unfocused, I had to adapt because that car was not mine to crash.
From all this, as a teenage driver I gained insight into the critical thinking skills all drivers should have. Being able to ignore the distractions around you, while paying attention to the traffic at hand in front of you is an ability taught better in a manual car than an automatic car. Let your foot off the brakes in one, and the car starts moving; but let your foot off the brakes in the other, nothing moves. One lets your mind wander and the other keeps you focused no matter the distractions in the background.
Personally, this importance of mental capacity when driving manual transmission in addition to automatic is what persuaded me to make the smarter decisions in my life. Teenagers begin to enter a stage of their life where drinking becomes normalized, but when deciding the choices to make, I felt more likely to make the right one knowing the awareness I needed to drive a manual car versus automatic. I’ve noticed that there are plenty of people, including teens, that will drive under the influence while not knowing the lack of control an automatic car has in comparison to manual cars. Additionally, many newer cars have backup cameras, obstacle notifications, or lane assistance and while those features are a move towards safety it doesn’t give accountability to the driver. Manual transmission cars tend to be on the older side, and don’t have fancy features for drivers to rely upon. This teaches self-dependency and accountability not emphasized in this new generation of vehicles. Safety precautions are necessary and upgrades in the car industry, but it makes it easier for drivers to give an excuse to be distracted while driving.
So, with all of these arguments against driving automatic cars, what is a way to fix this lack of awareness when driving? Realistically, electric cars are on the rise, and manual transmission cars are being dramatically phased out if they aren’t already gone from most manufacturers. With the very few manual cars that are left in the world, I think they need to become a part of drivers education. While teen drivers may never get the chance to drive a manual car outside of that time, it teaches an importance of awareness, focus, and adaptability when behind the wheel that isn’t the same in an automatic car. As a driver that knows how to drive manual transmission I have more trust in my driving and others that have had the same experience as me. Driver’s education teaches many things like defensive driving, and every written rule, but nothing truly replaces the skill that is learned when driving manual transmission.