# Who drives with both feet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846 "2011-03-15T23:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/21 "2011-03-16T02:45:16Z")
My grandfather and my mother both did this. Of course, Pop taught my mom how to drive. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/22 "2011-03-16T02:54:53Z")
I was taught to drive this way in the early '70s. Our teacher also justified it with the “emergency situation” logic cited above. Seemed normal when we learned it. I unlearned driving with both feet when I started regularly driving a car with a manual transmission. I found that I couldn’t transition back to an automatic and resume thinking of my left foot as my braking foot. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/23 "2011-03-16T03:22:57Z")
Not exactly the same thing, but this thread reminds me of an experience I had at work: A handful of us were driving out to a work site in the woods. It was winter and one guy was wearing really big winter boots, the kind that are good down to -40 or -50. He was the last driver in the convoy and therefore nobody noticed that he was actually pressing on both pedals for the entire 150 km drive. It was still dark when we arrived on site and when I got out of my vehicle I noticed a bright light coming from each of the wheel wells on his truck. It looked like each wheel had a 100-Watt bulb behind it. I was thinking, ‘What the…?’ It turned out that the brakes were glowing a bright, light yellow, almost white. And because he had stopped driving, they were no longer being cooled by a 90 kh/h wind. Each of the four brakes flashed into flames within about 10 seconds of each other and we were all running around, frantically, looking for fire extinguishers. We got the fires out, but not after thousands of dollars of damage had been done to the vehicle. This incident and others led to that idiot’s eventual firing. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/24 "2011-03-16T03:28:42Z")
When we were learning to drive my friend Holly got screamed at by her dad for thinking she ought to do this. It never occured to me that anyone with a license would drive that way. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/25 "2011-03-16T07:35:38Z")
Well, I drive manual, so with both feet 🙂 I did know several people who drove automatic with both feet; all of them were bad drivers by other reasons as well (the worst offender was awaiting cataract surgery, would turn her whole head around to look to the left because she saw a bit less badly from the right eye, drove 15mph on the left lane). I remember noticing it and thinking “ok, this is a person who’d probably never be able to drive manual…” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/26 "2011-03-16T07:43:37Z")
Our drivers’ ed teacher taught the class to drive with both feet. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/27 "2011-03-16T08:31:17Z")
As a side note, I tried this once or twice when learning to drive. I learned if you are used to pushing a worn-out clutch all the way to the floor with your left foot and you then put said left foot on the brake, you can just about give yourself whiplash. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/28 "2011-03-16T09:16:06Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I thought this was going to be about both feet _on the wheel_… > [@Asimovian](#): > > It’s the people with one foot on the wheel and one hanging out the window that you really need to watch out for. I’ve seen vids of several people do this. Well, without the hanging out the window part. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F_5KJyKPnj0/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGEggUihyMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCutMuFa_ktgEWhzRg1-huEi4aBDQ "Driving with no arms") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_5KJyKPnj0) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/29 "2011-03-16T11:28:22Z")
I’ve used my left foot to brake for many years now. Braking with the left foot takes a lot of practice before it comes naturally. My Hyundai Elantra has an inclined left foot rest; I doubt it was included as a place to keep one’s braking foot but it sure is handy. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/30 "2011-03-16T11:43:10Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I’ve used my left foot to brake for many years now. Braking with the left foot takes a lot of practice before it comes naturally. My Hyundai Elantra has an inclined left foot rest; I doubt it was included as a place to keep one’s braking foot but it sure is handy. I would guess it was designed to have a place to put your left foot so it wouldn’t be in the way. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/31 "2011-03-16T12:27:38Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I no longer drive a stick, but in the past I found that when switching temporarily from my stick to an automatic that my left foot would go looking for the pedal. I’ve owned manual-trans cars since about 1997. A couple of years ago I rented the cargo truck from Home Depot. When I was returning it to the store, I went to park it next to the building, between the entrance/exit doors. I slowed to about 5 MPH and then pushed the clutch pedal with my left foot. Except there was no clutch pedal: the truck had an automatic, and my left foot had found the brake pedal. The truck slammed violently and loudly to a halt, grabbing the attention of every pedestrian in the parking lot. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/32 "2011-03-16T12:37:48Z")
Most people in the UK learn to drive in a manual so left foot braking would be a weird habit to develop, you’re used to stomping (relatively speaking) on a clutch with that foot. My current car (automatic) actually has a foot operated parking “hand” brake where the clutch pedal would be, that led to a few abrupt stops when I first got it. I have used left foot braking in a go-kart, and there do seem to be some uses for it in racing. There’s a fun thing racing driver used to do (before the cars were automatics) Heel-and-toe declutching, where you control both the brake and accelerator with your _right_ foot while using your left foot on the clutch. In normal road driving I don’t see how using the brakes and accelerator at the same time can be anything other than a very bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/33 "2011-03-16T12:45:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Who drives with both feet? Spongebob Squarepants! ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/34 "2011-03-16T14:14:36Z")
My school district in Illinois was one of the few which taught left-foot braking. People can identify me as hailing from this district when they see me doing it. If you learn that way, it’s perfectly natural and there is nothing unique or eccentric or dangerous about it. You don’t _rest_ with your left foot on the brake, you rest your foot on the floor and apply it to the brake as needed. Trust me, it’s not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/35 "2011-03-16T14:45:56Z")
I just had a flashback to a program where a woman born armless drove with her feet on the wheel. She had a CB radio; her handle as “Venus” (as in deMilo) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/36 "2011-03-16T15:04:07Z")
My dad taught me to left-foot brake when backing out of the driveway, maneuvering through parking lots, and in very heavy/gridlocked traffic. I still do this; it allows for greater control in slow-speed situations. But for regular on-the-road driving, lefty is off to the side while righty does all the work. ---
**Author:** ![markm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/37 "2011-03-16T15:16:02Z")
Dad is an ex highway patrolman and when he first started teaching me to drive, I instinctively put right on gas, left on brake. He chewed me out for that. I tried to say it made more sense to drive like that, since you’d be able to respond more quickly (as was mentioned up thread). He then went on to inform me that if you’re driving such that you routinely need that sort of response time, you need to slow down and back off the vehicle in front. He said he could drive with both feet, but was trained to do it for high speed situations only, and for typical driving to just use the right foot. (“Now quit arguing and just drive the damn car.”) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/38 "2011-03-16T15:19:25Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I thought this was going to be about both feet _on the wheel_… Vibram Five Fingers are great for this method…they keep the steering wheel from getting all stinky. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/39 "2011-03-16T16:24:27Z")
I was taught to _not_ do this. Riding your brakes is bad for more than just the reason cited upthread of the brake lights staying one. My driver’s ed teacher told a story (most likely BS) about a woman who was stopped by a police officer one day. He said, “Ma’am … you drive with both feet, don’t you? Left food on the brake?” She replied that yes, she did, and asked how he knew. He pointed to her smoking brakes. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846/40 "2011-03-16T17:33:26Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I no longer drive a stick, but in the past I found that when switching temporarily from my stick to an automatic that my left foot would go looking for the pedal. I’d even make a move at the transmission lever a time or two until my brain switched back to driving an automatic. This only happened when I’d be starting to brake and getting ready to downshift. Same here. I got the idea of the pedals straightened out pretty quick but I still tried to shift for a long time after switching to an automatic transmission. Passengers always thought I was trying to grab their knees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-drives-with-both-feet/574846.md?page=3)