Safer ‘stick’?

My teen son got a license recently. So far he has driven only automatic transmission (for about six months). I am wondering if shift stick cars are safer for teen drivers. Can you please share your thoughts?

Interesting question. There was a time (long ago) when I would have answered manual transmission cars (except on super sports cars — or would-be sports cars — which no one, even alleged grownups, can seem to keep from driving too fast).

I’ve never seen research supporting (or disputing) my notion, but my thinking back then would have been that the driver of a manual had to pay more attention to the actual process of driving and keeping the car moving or slowing down without stalling out, he or she would have to be more at one with the car and he or she would almost by osmosis develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for the power and potential of the machine.

My position is different today. Drivers like to talk on their phones, text and eat while they’re driving. Adding the need to provide foot action and hand action to those other activities seems to me to make the process of driving a stick more danger fraught, especially for new drivers, whose lack of experience puts them at greater risk — statistics show — of making mistakes and having accidents whatever they’re driving.

I still believe that being at one with the car is probably a better approach than the leave-the-driving-to-the-car mentality that so many people have today, but it’s not smart to apply theoretical ideals to known realities.

Unless this is the extraordinarily rare teen who can apply perfect focus to driving, will practice off the roads to develop the necessary coordinated movements, and will never, ever become distracted by a phone or a fellow teen passenger, I’d recommend against a stick.

For a variety reasons, sticks are almost a thing of the past. Only about a quarter of the models sold in the U.S. today are available in manual transmission, and less than 3 percent of new cars sold today in this country are manual. So, it’ll also be important for you to think about resale or trade-in value.