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Comment by NAHWheatCracker | Hacker News Reader

A bit like opening your car door while still driving 60 mph... Nobody does that in normal operation.

You don't open and shut a door when you notice it didn't fully close because you can hear the wind?

In airplanes, a lot of procedures and diagnostics involve not re-trying a failed action, not touching anything before reading a check list, nor flipping a switch twice if it didn't work the first time.

A better comparison might be putting the car in reverse at 60 MPH.

You never missed a gear, thinking you were driving a 6 speed rather than a 5 speed?

No, but for as long as I've been driving manual cars they've had gates to prevent that very action. (1995)

Not mine (Honda Jazz). But you physically can't do it, as the reverse gear has no synchro and won't mesh unless stationary.

It can be done, but it's neither easy nor a good idea: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ARJENV0qGdY

You'd certainly struggle to do it by accident.

it should make a loud grinding noise though,

The sleeve of my coat caught on the gear shift while making a left turn and threw it in reverse while on the freeway.

It made a grinding noise and I yanked it back into drive.

Other than the noise nothing bad happened.

At 60 mph? No. I listen to the wind until I get a safe opportunity to properly close it.

(I might try to pull it more shut while moving. But not open it.)

Good luck even opening it far enough if you're going at 60 ...

Non-suicide doors[1] in cars are very difficult to open at 60 mph. Between air pressure, and poor leverage, you are going to have a hell of a time doing it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_door

Just roll your window down first!

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