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Comment by ritonlajoie | Hacker News Reader

In northern America, I think most of the cars have automatic transmission. In France, (where I live), we mostly (maybe 99% ?) have manual transmissions. Have you ever experimented a traffic jam with a manual trans. car ? You have to switch gears every 10 seconds and it's very very very annoying.

I'm telling you that, because as a frequent driver (well, today I drive a bike but still) in Paris, and kind of very observant, I clearly see that most people are not doing what these drivers do in this experiment. Most of the time, everybody will let a huge space between the car behind them in order to avoid changing the gears too frequently.

On the contrary, on automatic cars (I had one and drove another for 6 months in Canada), that's easier to go & stop & go & stop & go & stop, etc...

Not sure if it's related, but I think it is, in a small proportion.

edit: my english

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Pretty sure transmission type has nothing to do with it -- traffic is stop and go in plenty of places where most cars have manual transmissions.

I'm increasingly convinced that it's due to so many drivers optimizing for local minima, at the expense of not just everyone around them, but of themselves thirty seconds later.

Duh, I meant local maxima, of course -- at least, that's what those drivers are trying for. What they get most of the time are more like minima, of course.

I am pretty sure this is one of the many reasons. I recently came to usa from eastern europe, where I had car with manual gearbox (and with ceramic clutch, turbo, etc rough stuff under hood keeping you busy in traffic =)). I quickly get used to do smooth driving and continue to do it here in usa too on my automatic trans car.

why exactly do you need to switch gears? Just leave it in first. And engage the clutch when you are stopped.

If you're stuck in traffic for a long time, your leg engaging the clutch can get very tired. So you're constantly switching to neutral to rest your leg.

It's also not uncommon for traffic to go from stopped, to fast enough to warrant 2nd gear, back to stopped.

In my experience that is not the case. Specifically because jams are waves not just slow moving traffic. A gap will open up and quickly I can be in the 3rd gear to catch up. Of course as soon as I do the flow stops again. I could just creep forward in 1st and let the rest of the flow fill in front of me...

Manual transmissions are definitely hell during rush hour... but doesn't seem to affect people contributing to the waves in my experience.

you will ruin your clutch bearing way faster. it's much better to keep constant speed (for engine/gearbox and for traffic in general). plus - you can't drive on highway on 1st gear. you still need to switch to upper gears.

Hm, just so you know, never drive in first. That's just the one to 'start'. Either, you'll kill your engine too early. Engaging the clutch every 10 meters is what is irritating. That's the point !

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