->Shifting to neutral at a stop is a good idea for any car with a manual
->transmission. Not only does it save wear and tear on clutch components
->but it's just plain safer. Several years ago an accountance of mine was
->sitting in his Corvette at an intersection with his foot on the clutch
->and the car in first gear waiting for the light to turn green. He was
->rear-ended by another car which resulted in him banging his head and
->being knock unconscious. Since his right foot was resting on the
->accelerator at the time, the impact forced his foot down and he roared
->through the intersection at full throttle and smashed into
->another car. He ended up in the hospital and his Corvette was totalled.
When I got my drivers license in the UK, they failed me once for not
putting the car in neutral and the parking brake on at stoplights for this very
reason.
Of course the driver's license test in the UK is a little more
stringent than it is here in the states....Like a 45-50 minute road test
out on real roads.
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