ha ha ha! That sounds like a truly evil stick shift spot!
No, I grew up in Rockland County, NY, and the intersection in question is utterly level and non-threatening; it's pure psychology. But actually, my dad taught my mom to drive a manual when they were living in Boston (JP), and she's been annoyed about it ever since. :)
I never had too much trouble stalling out on hills because the first thing my mom did after lots of parking lot driving in first and second was to take me to a stop on a hill and practice coming out of it. I stalled a lot while learning that, but once you have the trick you don't lose it. I think one thing that helped me a lot was that my mom was always totally calm and practiced a combination of expecting me to fail at first (meaning I never felt like it was a big deal when I did) and always making me try anything I failed at until I got it. This was really good for making me not get psyched out about anything in particular. Notably, the one case where she didn't quite succeed in this was the first time we did a freeway entrance, when things got a little hairy because no one was letting me in, and she did get visibly nervous. And I was in fact scared of freeway entrances for a long time after that. Early teaching experiences are very formative in cars. :)
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Date: 2010-02-05 01:55 am (UTC)That intersection is why my mother doesn't drive stick shift.
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Date: 2010-02-05 02:01 am (UTC)No, I grew up in Rockland County, NY, and the intersection in question is utterly level and non-threatening; it's pure psychology. But actually, my dad taught my mom to drive a manual when they were living in Boston (JP), and she's been annoyed about it ever since. :)
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Date: 2010-02-05 03:19 am (UTC)