By: Stirling Tindal
A question that not too many people think about today is “Should teenagers drive a manual or an automatic transmission?”. Most cars nowadays are automatic; however you can get some cars that are left with the manual transmission. I drive a stick shift Nissan frontier and I believe that a manual car will always be better than an automatic.
When I first learned to drive, my dad taught me in a manual jeep wrangler. It was very challenging to learn at first for me. I may have stalled out at least 300 times before I got the hang of it. After I figured out that you have to let off the clutch slowly and let it start driving for you very slowly was when I finally figured it out. I loved changing veers while driving, it made me feel like I was a professional race car driver. I love it so much that my dad got my truck as manual as well.
I’ve learned many beneficial habits from using a manual for so long that I will keep with me for a long time while driving. When you have to change gears every so often you have no time to be on your phone. A manual is a big factor in keeping people off of their phones while driving and keeping them focused on the road. Another habit I have picked up is that I continually check my RPMs while driving. I always have to know my RPMs so that I can change gears at the correct time and not waste gas. When driving an automatic you wouldn’t have to worry about your RPMs and may not notice if something is wrong. Something else I love about driving a manual is the control of your vehicle that you have. Being able to change gears to what you want can make traversing rough and muddy roads much more simple than in an automatic.
A manual really had no negatives for teenagers. They can only make them more aware of what they are doing. I truly believe that if everyone drove a manual transmission, the roads would be much more safe than they are now.
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