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As someone who's driven manuals for many years, is it safe for me to adopt left-foot braking when hiring an automatic?

I'm sorry to bring up this old chestnut again, but your article about left-foot braking frightens me to death. I am hiring a car in Tasmania later in the year. It's a mid-range model and only obtainable in automatic, but I haven't driven an automatic for over thirty years. Surely for safety’s sake it will be better for me, a pensioner, to use right-foot braking for the two-week period? In an emergency is it not the tendency to hit the brake thinking you have disengaged the clutch?

Asked on 22 October 2010 by ML, via email

Answered by Honest John
Out on the road, yes. If not confident, stick to right foot only, but while manoeuvring in tight spaces, it's better to left-foot brake to retain full control of the car. The idle speed of the engine could suddenly rise to 2,000rpm or more which will engage drive and could send the car five metres before you can get your right foot off the accelerator and onto the brake. At very low speeds you are not going to send someone through the window by braking too sharply anyway and you will be able to prevent a nasty 'accident' such as running over and killing your wife (the most common out of control automatic 'accident').

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