Whenever I’m at a full service carwash, I notice that the employees, when moving the cars from the end of the wash to the drying and wiping stations, drive with the door slightly open and with the left foot sticking outside, practically dragging on the ground. To me it looks a little dangerous so I wonder why they do it. Is there a practical reason for it, fir example the left foot being generally more wet because of how the equipment is generally used?
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Could it be force of habit established by moving vehicles around unpowered in neutral? - Pushing a car around with one foot out of the driver’s door is not easy, but on a flat level surface, it’s possible - especially if you only want to move it a little bit.
I’ve been known to do that when just jumping in a car to move it a couple feet.
It’s just faster to get in and out, you don’t have to turn your hips and settle your body into the seat.
Their shoes are wet and probably dirty.
You don’t want them to track mud into your car, and they don’t want to clean up after themselves.
What jonesj2205 said. I do this all the time when I need to move a car a short distance. It’s just easier. It’s not a cleanliness thing. After all, two or three of your four appendages are inside and operating the car already.
If you haven’t personally done this, then maybe you’ve done something analogous, like activated a parking brake (say, a pedal one) without actually situating yourself all the way inside the car. You just sort of reach in with your foot and do it even though the pedal is designed for someone actually sitting fully in the driver’s seat.
Oh, you want me to back the car up a few feet? I’ll just stick one leg in, half-sit on the edge of the seat, start 'er up, move, shut’er down, and stand right back up without ever having “settled in” and without having to “climb” back out.
Or even up a very slight incline if you’re healthy and it is a light car. Source: when I was driving in a VW Beetle whose reverse didn’t work and I occasionally could not pull-through to park nor find a level or positive angle parking spot.
What they said. It’s much quicker and simpler than taking a normal seating position. When you’re only actually driving the car for two seconds it seems silly to take 15 seconds to get in and out of it.