<p>I can drive manual but I always screw up auto. Does it make me an idiot? I've lived by myself since the age of 15 and I got into UVA. Does the fact that I don't drive in auto transmission make me a stupid person no matter what without consideration of my past experiences in unrelated subjects?</p>
<p>You can't drive an auto well because you don't drive it often. My friend has done it HUNDREDS of time correctly without even knowing it :)</p>
<p>I have to tell you, the smartest people have serious lapses in memory.</p>
<p>Remembering where I put my car is the one I screw up the most.</p>
<p>I just forget. As well, for 20 years my H asks how long to microwave something....20 years I have been saying 30 seconds, stir and another 30</p>
<p>-EVERYONE forgets where they parked :) </p>
<p>-I still forget how to microwave things, since I don't do it often. </p>
<p>-And with my friend, this was an "on and off" problem for him. That's why he said he was going to the mechanic because the stick "locked" sporadically. Guess he never figured out that foot off brake=stuck in park :)</p>
<p>Actually I've done the brake thing myself recently, but with a manual shift where maybe it makes more sense. (I don't know when they added the little safety interlock "deal" with the not being able to shift unless your foot is on the brake. It didn't used to be that way back in the 1970's.) At any rate, I always have my foot on the brake when I start the engine and so I don't even think about it, and then one day I didn't have your foot on the brake and it didn't turn over. After being confused by that, it threw everything off for a few minutes.</p>