Yodabunny wrote:
In an emergency situation your first instinct is to slam the brakes, but if you pay attention you'll notice you actually push with both feet (you might catch yourself but initially you flex both legs, just depends how panicked you are and what your reaction time is like).
I've heard many people say this, but I don't believe it's true. Do you push down with both feet whenever you are startled? So what you do with your feet when in an emergency whilst driving a car is
learned behavior, not instinct.
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In two foot operation this is a problem since you could punch the gas and brake at the same time while trying to stop.
Extremely unlikely, given that the two foot driver's learned behavior is to push with his left foot while lifting with the right when attempting to slow down or stop. On the other hand, the right foot only driver's learned behavior is to push with the right foot to stop. So if his foot happens to be on the gas instead of the brake (for any of a number of reasons, not the least of which is panic reaction to a sudden event) he'll accelerate instead of stopping. We get dozens of fatalities a year from that. I'm not aware of any case of this sort of thing happening to someone practicing two foot driving. I'm not ruling out the possibility, but it just seems vastly more likely for someone who operates both pedals with the same foot to accidentally hit the wrong pedal, than for someone who operates them with different feet to one day out of the blue forget his right from his left. One of those is reinforced by learned behavior, the other requires acting contrary to it.
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So cars are designed for 1 foot operation of both gas and brake with the brake pedal being centered and larger than the gas pedal so it's easier to hit. That and carryover from manual operation.
/shrug. Most people I've heard from on the issue who drive with two feet started driving on a manual transmission (yes. Like me!) and naturally carried over the use of two feet to driving an automatic. For me, it just made a lot more sense to use that foot that was already used to pushing down on something when stopping to pushing on the brake, thus freeing up my right foot for accelerator-only duty. Far far less complicated IMO.