With 'senior' drivers in particular there have been a fair number of cases where people have mistaken the accelerator for the brake and done exactly as the person described in the case involved.

If those people had been taught (or had learned) to drive an automatic two-footed, then the accidents (and in some cases, fatalities) would simply not have happened.

I agree. The problem is for drivers who drive a mixture of manual and auto cars. Confusion is likely to occur at the worst possible time, because in an emergency your hardwired instincts come to the fore. About two years ago I changed cars from a VW with ignition switch on the right, to a Peugeot with starter to the left of column. Even now, if I'm very tired or stressed, the old habit reemerges. In the case of braking that's not a confusion I want to happen

... never thought I don't have full control of the breaks

You never have full control of the breaks.

That's why they call them "the breaks"

Thems the breaks.

This is one of those topics where there isn't a right or wrong: human beings are all different, and what suits one person won't suit another.

There are some very good logical reasons for left-foot braking with an automatic, although personally I would take it up only if I drove nothing but automatics. As SWMBO doesn't like automatics, one of our cars is always a manual - so I stick to using my right foot.

Exactly - I test drove an auto Mazda CX-3 (never driven an auto before) last year, and tried left foot braking for manouvring in my workplace car park (safe as it was a Saturday and there was nobody around but me). I found it difficult to say the least, but I may try again if and when I get a new car that is an auto.

For normal driving, I'd rather stick to what feels natural to me, which is right foot braking. Personally speaking, and from a safety and car health pov, I can't see any benefit of left foot braking for manual cars - you always need your left foot available to depress the clutch when the engine gets near stall speed, especially on emergency stops, so the only time its even worth left foot braking is moderate braking when you're not going to stop or go to low revs.

As Bromptonaut says, the vast majority of people favour one leg (like their hand) for 'finess' control and that's usually the right one, presumably some biological reason. I wonder if this is true for left handed/footed people. As he says, rather a moot point for most as you do what feels comfortable.

I think most crashes caused by elderly people pressing the accelerator by mistake instead of the brake, particularly when doing slow speed manouvres, is perhaps due to either:

• Them not fitting the floor mat back correctly after vacuuming, and pressing the (actual) brake presses the accelerator as well, or;
• Their lack of mobility meaning/fine motor control they don't have the ability to quickly change the position of their leg to the left 100% of the time but still instinctively press down. Technically, there's no reason why this shouldn't happen in a manual though, although if its at very low speed (and therefore revs) it could be negated by them stalling the car as they intially take their foot off the accelerator pedal the first time before 'braking'.

I do agree that its not always a good idea for older people who've never driven an auto before to swtich over to one because their clutch control starts to wane, as this could indicate they don't have (or won't soon) the ability to properly depress the pedals with sufficient force or have the required fine motor skills necessary to keep driving to a reasonable standard and/or safely. That and (though not for all people) the 'old [proverbial] dog and new tricks' phrase springs to mind.