Ok, I ‘threatened’ the SO that I would start a thread after once again nagging - err, I mean debating the difference between his driving and mine - and then ultimately, male vs female.
What I have noticed is that the SO “pumps” his foot on the gas peddle and it makes me car sick to say the least. No wonder he keeps a box of motion-sickness pills in his glove compartment! I cannot say that he is the only one to drive using this method. My previous s.o. did the same thing. That got me thinking: “Maybe this is a man-thing?” So I asked my SO’s niece and she indicated that her hub does the same thing.
Is it that women posses the ability to keep their foot at such an angle that the “pumping” action is nil, or so mild it’s undetectable? And men, WHY cant you keep your foot steady???
What are your thoughts?
Please keep this in regards to the foot-to-peddle motion
While I find it to be only males in my experience who seem to do it,it’s not all of them. I’ve never dated anyone who does it, my step-dad doesn’t do it. I remember my dad doing it when I was a kid, and I think every dumbshit cab driver does it (especially if they leaned to drive somewhere besides the States). It’s like they’re purposely trying go get their passengers sick.
It’s also not fuel efficient. There’s no reason for it except ignorance and inconsideration for passengers.
My sisters and I have often talked about this as being specifically a male trait, even as we acknowledge the one brother-in-law that doesn’t do it as being an exception to the rule. Sure, some women do it, but I definitely notice it more often in men.
That is so odd. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it. Before antilock breaks we were taught to pump the breaks so as not to lock them up. But pump the gas? I don’t and I don’t know anyone who does. I am male.
That’s weird - I’ve always thought of this as an exclusively female trait. Drove me absolutely nuts as a kid because my mom was horrible about it - she could never maintain a speed, always coasting then surging coasting then surging - what a waste of gas and extra wear on the vehicle. I’ve noticed it with several women but no men that I can recall.
I’d say the same, but with one exception - my dad. My dad was a woeful driver. I can remember my sister and I (in the days before seat belts) making a game of sliding right across the rear vinyl bench seat when he cornered, and also the lurching acceleration and braking. If my dad achieved anything with this, it was to make my sister and I pretty smooth drivers, although she does vary speed more than I do. I probably accelerate a bit more aggressively than she does, but not a lot. When my aunt was still alive, she was told by her doctor to wear a neck brace when in a car, but she was too vain to do so - so I was nervous about driving her anywhere, until I found that my normal driving style was fine for that.
If I understand the OP correctly, it’s also a manual transmission thing - lurching everytime you do a gear change. It doesn’t effect the driver as much because they are basically controlling it. But for a passenger it’s pretty annoying. Imagine if everytime I meet you I grab you by the shoulders and just shake you back and forward at random intervals.
Doesn’t that imply that your female co-workers all believe they are far better drivers than their husbands? So really, they might just say that you are nearly unique among all drivers, male or female, in admitting you’re not the greatest driver.
Whenever someone asks me if I’m a good driver, which usually only happens if we’re planning on driving somewhere together for work or fun, I always reply that I’m not a particularly good driver. I’ve had quite a few women comment that I’m the only man who will admit that, but I’ve almost never met anyone of either sex who believed they were a below average driver. I think, in reality, the overwhelming majority of drivers are convinced they’re much better than average.
On the other hand, I’ve never pumped my gas pedal and don`t know anyone who has. It sounds awful.
I’ve never noticed anyone pumping the gas. Now coming to a stop at a light behind some moron who brakes, coasts, brakes, coasts, brakes, creeeeeeeeeeps up, etc. . . . I just want to pound on them for making an entire line of cars behind them wait for them to STOP ALREADY. You either ride your brakes up to the light behind them or let a huge gap appear between your cars.
My mom is the only person I’ve ever seen who drove this way. She was also amongst the shittiest drivers I’ve ever encountered. She never looked in a rearview mirror in her life. She was afraid (for excellent reasons) to drive on the freeway. She was the worst back seat driver ever. I think she learned to drive while pregnant with me at the age of 37, which may have had something to do with her ineptitude
The only person I’ve ever seen do this was a guy I worked with. He was trying out my car and he kept doing this so I tactfully called him on it (“You fucking suck at driving! What’s with the pumping?”) He attributed it to the fact that he normally drives cars with manual trasmissions and my car was an automatic. That doesn’t make sense to me because even with a manual transmission you should keep your foot steady while maintaining speed, but that was his excuse.
All I can add is that I’ve never noticed myself doing it so Pixilated is obviously imaging things. Or making it up so she’ll have something to complain about. You know how women are.
Seriously though. I don’t notice doing it even when she points it out and I have no idea why I might be doing it.
A little more info though. When I’m sitting for an extended period one or the other foot will start “quivering”, bouncing my heel up and down rapidly. I’ve heard that being attributed to putting pressure on the sciatic nerve running into the leg. So maybe it’s just some sort of involuntary action.