One thing us manual transmission drivers will notice is that average Americans have no regard for us. When I’m waiting at a light on an incline, I’ll get someone who stops like a foot from my back end. Pointless first of all, but now I have no room if I roll back. When I’m in a traffic jam, people cut into the 1.5 car gap I leave in front of me so that I don’t have to go in and out of gear constantly. When I’m on a 45MPH road, people will fluctuate between 48 and 53, meaning I’m constantly in that awkward uncomfortable zone between gears.

This is all because Americans are unskilled drivers. Manual transmissions or even basic mechanics of cars don’t exist in the American conscience. Americans care about getting from point A to point B, they have no desire to understand their car or control it.

I love seeing Americans freak out driving in other countries. No those are not narrow roads, they’re normal. No, roundabouts are not terrifying, they greatly improve the flow of traffic. Yes, manual transmissions are the norm in the rest of the world. Skilled drivers are also the norm. 80 year old Italian grandmas can drive cars better than most Americans. The issue isn’t that Americans are bad drivers, it’s simply we lack a culture of driving being treated as a skill that you can improve gradually for the rest of your life. Once they get their license Americans think they have it mastered. Not even close.