Driving an automatic car is safer than a car with manual transmission and visa versa argument……… always a controversial argument!!

This article goes back a bit and we have only just spotted it, so apologies.   https://www.safermotoring.co.uk/automatic-manual-cars-which-safer.html

In terms of safety, the conclusion is that neither type of transmission has a distinct advantage over the other.

Both camps have useful arguments as to type of vehicle that is safer to drive.

The article tells us that “veteran” manual transmission protagonists insist that manual offers greater safety, as the driver has more control?

Hold on though, with a manual transmission some degree of coasting is inevitable when changing gear, right?

At that point that the clutch goes down whilst changing gear there must be a loss in traction, which is a loss of control. In addition, as a drivers hands are off of the wheel more often with a manual, how does that provide more control??

Against driving an automatic car, the article says that some drivers argue that as there is less to do in- car when driving an automatic vehicle, attention levels drop and there is an inclination towards paying less attention to the road environment.

Well surely the countervailing argument to this is that as there is less to do, more finite brain power is available to deal with the road, as there is less multi tasking going on?

One thing is for certain, people cause collisions.

We tend to call them accidents as a means of shifting blame.

European efforts to reduce road Death

A pan European study into the causes of collisions found that one of the major contributing factors to collisions was the context of the each journey, the motives behind it.

In other words how the planning, time pressure and other elements influenced the human factors that could compromise safety.

So take the van delivery driver, new to a job that he wants to keep.

The boss gives him a tight schedule that is unrealistic as the driver is unfamiliar with the routes and rest points. He has no time for a proper break, to drink or get a bite to eat. He is going to feel pressure and we all know how this affects performance when doing any task.

There is no doubt that the context of this journey, could cause safety to be compromised.

As someone with a few Advanced Driving Qualifications, able to drive either a manual or automatic transmission vehicle, which do I feel is the safer vehicle to drive?

Well, all things being equal, same driver, same context for the journey, road and traffic conditions……….then probably an automatic car.