Part 2 of 3: Today's drivers, Return to manual driving

Automatic cars are great. Easy to drive and easy to forget about. This is because there is no need for the driver to do anything but push the gas and occasionally hit the breaks (some cars even do this for you). But true driver skill comes out of driving a car that requires more proactive than reactive action. This is why driving manual vs automatic comes into play.

First off you need to know the basic principles behind the idea of a clutch and manual transmission. The engine speed runs at an RPM independent of the vehicle's speed. By selecting the correct gear for both the engine and speed the driver can adjust the both to match driving conditions.

The driver can select a lower gear to force the engine to work harder, and reduce speed, or select a higher gear and let the engine do less work and achieve higher speeds. Reducing speed using the engine is called engine breaking and works well on icy, low traction, or step declines to avoid loss of traction while maintaining a proper speed. This one of the benefits that automatic cars do not have the ability to do in the same manner. A driver could use the lower gears to on the automatic to achieve the same effect yet the automatic transmission could allow the engine into higher RPMs causing damage or could shift higher and lose all of the benefits.

Of course this is the very basic explanation to a manual car, and this is why it is important, the driver is forced to choose the proper gear for the upcoming road and its conditions forcing the driver to look ahead and use their judgement to select the correct gear. That requires more attention, less attention can be given to other devices. Because of the constant road scanning, other hazards are identified earlier and more time to react is had.

And this is why I suggest everyone take the time to learn how to drive stick.

Part 1 of 3: Today's drivers, Peak of technology

Everyday it seems like there are newer safety devices installed in cars, and at the same time horrific collisions plague the news. Why is this? This is because the ease of driving cars, to the point where some are even self parking, is paramount. And the new Google car is even self driving. But if driving ease is the main goal, then they have succeeded. But what is next?

It basically boils down to the simplistic nature of today's automatic cars. These cars are so easy to drive they allow individuals behind the wheel to focus on other things. The skill level needed to drive is deteriorating while technology is trying to make up the difference. Technology is proving to have come to a point that it can help balance between the need to drive and the need "multitask".

But I think that to truly make a skilled driver there is a need to return to basics. New drivers should be required to have a certain amount of hours behind a stick-shift or manual transmission before
gaining a full license.

This is because manual transmission cars need more attention, which in turn cause more attention to be paid to the road and conditions. Thus less time for other multitasking, which could in turn lead to less distracted driving incidents. And the skills learned or honed on manual transmissions can easily be transferred automatic cars while the vice-versa is not true. Automatic cars are focused on ease of driving and this ease leads to driver boredom.