Maybe I should be glad kids aren't learning this..

[CBDFrontier06]

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Two U.S. car thieves failed to make their getaway in a car they had just stolen because they couldn't figure out how to use its manual transmission, a witness saidon Wednesday.

The teenagers armed with a gun approached a man outside a pizza restaurant in Marietta, Georgia, late on Monday. They stole his wallet and the keys to his Honda Accord, got into the car but couldn't make it start because it had stick shift, according to John Williamson, 18, a restaurant employee.
"The kid was just sitting in the car trying to start it but he had no idea what to do. He looked dumbfounded. The only thing he had going was the radio," said Williamson who witnessed the scene.

While the thief was trying to start the car, restaurant employees called the police who arrived and caught the teenagers as they tried to escape into nearby woods.

Unlike many parts of the world, the majority of cars in the United States are automatic and many drivers are unused to driving "stick shift" vehicles, in which a clutch pedal must be depressed to change gear.

 

[Lonnie]

Maybe our wonderful court system will reduce the charge from attempted auto thieft to attempted auto starting. This could lead to a transmission control law. You might have to register these dangerous cars with manual transmissions. Imagine the problem of someone that has to put their phone down to shift gears, that could be dangerous. There should be a law that make it illegal to shift gears while talking on the cell phone while driving down the road. Imagine if that kid got the car going and ran into someone while talking on the phone and trying to shift gears. The owner of the car could sued. I think this car owner got off easy on this one. I hope he learned his lession.

 

[Tempest]

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Imagine the problem of someone that has to put their phone down to shift gears, that could be dangerous.

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The only thing he had going was the radio

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Priorities, priorities....

 

[Pablo]

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must be depressed to change gear

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I'll say.

 

[simple_gifts]

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Unlike many parts of the world, the majority of cars in the United States are automatic and many drivers are unused to driving "stick shift" vehicles, in which a clutch pedal must be depressed to change gear.

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Apparently Reuters is catering to people as intelligent as the thieves.

 

[XB70]

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The only thing he had going was the radio

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Priorities, priorities....

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You beat me to it, Tempest!

 

[Gary Allan]

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in which a clutch pedal must be depressed to change gear.

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Fortunately for the owner, he had gotten the proper medication for the clutch ..and had administered it in the proper dosage. This is why this clutch was not depressed.

or

The would be thief had taken sensitivity courses during his limited education and could not, in good conscience, allow the clutch to be depressed.

or...

"When police approached the car, they heard the thief insulting the car ..repeatedly. When asked why he was talking that way to an inanimate object, he replied, "It says so right here!", pointing to the visor,"To start vehicle depress clutch" ...that's what I was tryin' to do

"

 

[Shannow]

Gary,
as it's summer up there, I'd suggest that the clutches just need to get out more...clutches getting out would improve the Police's chances of catching "Stumpy" the bandit