im a leftie and i can not drive an automatic car

There was an incident in the town a few miles from where I used to live where a car, driven by an elderly woman, mounted the pavement and ploughed through a waste bin and some bollards. It’s a miracle nobody was killed.

She was driving an automatic and had used her left foot to operate the brake but mistakenly thought it was the clutch and that her right foot was on the brake not the accelerator. When she realised her mistake she took her foot off the brake!

It beggars belief that a police instructor would advise such a dangerous manoeuvre when driving an automatic.

Honeysuckleberries

My husband was an advanced class 1 police driver and a trainer for the Institute of Advanced Drivers and he always drove an automatic with both feet. Left foot on brake of course. Perhaps you could try that.

That’s a scary concept, however much of an expert you are or are or not. The whole idea of using the same foot for the brake as the accelerator is that you have to take your foot off the accelerator to use the brake.

DH had an automatic and I had a manual so occasionally I had to remind myself which one I was driving. Now we both have automatics it’s much easier.
I can’t understand why being left handed is an issue. I tend to drive with both hands on the wheel, safer than having to keep taking a hand off to change gear I think.

My husband was an advanced class 1 police driver and a trainer for the Institute of Advanced Drivers and he always drove an automatic with both feet. Left foot on brake of course. Perhaps you could try that.

Both my parents and all four of. Y grandparents were left-handed. All my siblings bar one poor soul are, that one’s kids are both lefties. So by both nature and nurture, I am strongly left handed - at least I always thought so, until I injured my right shoulder. Now I can’t believe how much I used either just my right hand, or both, for.

JackyB I am a true oddity with both parents being left-handed I grew up being able to use both hands equally but I do write with my right hand but I prefer to use my left for everything else.

Was going to say: one solution would be to move to the continent.

I am right-handed and have driven in left-hand and right-hand drive cars in the UK, Germany, France and the US. I am most used to left-hand drives as I moved to Germany not long after passing my test. I find it harder when I first get into a car in the UK because you are pushing the gear lever (when putting it into first) away with your left hand and using the triceps instead of pulling it towards you with your right hand. Otherwise it's not difficult to change sides.

However, I find it interesting that there are those who can't do a thing with their left hand (my mother-in-law was one), many who are fairly good at some things with either hand, right across the spectrum, through the pure ambidextrous to those who are exclusively left-handed, like petunia in the OP.

TH is a leftie and we have a new automatic hybrid car. He loves it...so much smoother and easier for his poorly right leg and mine.

grandtanteJE65

I doubt that anyone who has reached our age and always driven with a manual gearbox will ever feel comfortable driving an automatic car.

But the advice to drive a little every day is probably sound.

Do you need to drive your husband's car? Can't you stick to your own?

I am left handed and took to our automatic right away with no problems at all . After 30 odd years of driving this was our first automatic and I loved it . Having to use the same computers at work as the rest of the staff I just got used to using my right hand for the mouse . The only thing my husband hates is to watch me cutting a loaf of bread he thinks I do not look safe but I am .

My twin was a lefty but forced to use her right hand in school so you have my sympathy!
I am not left handed( I'm very right dominant) but struggled at first to drive an automatic. The trick for me ( as others have said) was to tuck my left foot out of the way to stop it searching for a clutch. I got there in the end- now I have trouble if I have to drive a manual.

petunia

i think Maw, that its the fact that my dominant side, the left side, isnt keen on sitting in the drivers seat with nothing to do. my left foot wants to shuffle about looking for action and my left hand itches to hold onto the gear stick.
as Cold said upthread, its like driving a dodgem car.
but some good advice here. practice practice practice

It shouldn’t be any harder to convert from manual to automatic because you are left handed. Just remember to have a lighter touch with your right foot and there’s no need to tuck your left away - there’s a handy foot rest for that. Nobody drives along holding on to the gear stick so just forget all about it.

Never use your left foot for braking. Your right foot should leave the accelerator for that purpose.

It really is the simplest way to drive and long journeys are far less stressful especially if you are stuck in crawling traffic.

When you get the hang of it you’ll never want to go back to manual.

i think Maw, that its the fact that my dominant side, the left side, isnt keen on sitting in the drivers seat with nothing to do. my left foot wants to shuffle about looking for action and my left hand itches to hold onto the gear stick.
as Cold said upthread, its like driving a dodgem car.
but some good advice here. practice practice practice

I doubt that anyone who has reached our age and always driven with a manual gearbox will ever feel comfortable driving an automatic car

Speak for yourself! M last 5 cars were manual, the latest, bought in February is an automatic and I wish I’d made tge change years ago.
If anything it might be harder to change to a manual if you’re not used to it, but being left or right handed should make no difference to driving either if you have been driving for years anyway.

Our last two cars have been automatics and until this year I had never driven either of them. Fate intervened and I had to, but a few turns around the estate and then gradually out onto the road and I have never looked back. It won’t take you long to get used to it. Automatics are a joy to drive and I don’t even think about it now.

My automatic car is driven by the whole family which includes lefties and righties. I tell them that to pretend they are driving a fairground dodgem - stick it in drive and then one foot for the accelerator and the other for the brake!

I wouldn't advise that at all. Just go on using right foot for brake and accelerator as usual. Keep left foot completely still and out of the way. There does come a moment when your left foot forgets there isn't a clutch and comes down hard on the brake pedal... ? Luckily I wasn't going very fast at the time...

I'm right handed and for years wouldn't drive my husband's automatic, it felt so alien it scared me . Eventually when we were going down to one car I had to. It took a little while before I stopped going to put it in first gear every time I pulled away from a stopped position but I got there in the end. I also did what Zonne says, placed my left foot right back against the seat, completely out of the way.

I’m left handed (and left-footed) and can drive an automatic. It’s just a matter paid practice. Tuck your left foot under the seat for a while.

I’m left handed and have been driving automatics for about fifteen years. My left knee is arthritic so is grateful not to have to do anything.

I think that driving an automatic car takes a bit of adjusting to regardless of which hand you use as it is the feeling of something being "odd" or not enough to do.

My automatic car is driven by the whole family which includes lefties and righties. I tell them that to pretend they are driving a fairground dodgem - stick it in drive and then one foot for the accelerator and the other for the brake! DD1 manages to drive it well despite having grown up without a dominant hand - she writes left handed but uses a computer right handed.

When you change cars there is a period of adaptation and I speak as someone who:
- learned/drove manual for 14 years in the UK - gear change left handed
- moved to Scandinavia and drove manual 15 years - gear change right hand (but pedals the same as UK)
- had accident and switched to automatic as not able to change gear

I have recently inherited my mother-in-law's automatic. I'm right handed but still found it really difficult - especially that left foot! ... as someone else said, plant it firmly on the floor!!!

I made myself go out in it every day for about 2 weeks - even if I only drove a few miles to the tip or 15 to visit mother-in-law. I am OK now. You will surely get there with use.

MissAdventure

I can't even work a can opener properly, so behind the wheel of a car is a bit of a worry.

Maybe invest in a left-handed can-opener?

When I collected my automatic car I asked a neighbour to come out with me for an hour and have never looked back. Only wish I had had one years ago.

Sweeping statement there, Grandetante. It took me all of five minutes to get used to an automatic car.

Sorry I didn’t think - of course you don’t! Doh!!!