I think the truth is that most folks simply don't know how to drive stick. This is most especially true with younger drivers (under forty). Don't drivers nowadays get some sort "automatics only"-type of wording on their driver's license unless they do a road test with a manual transmission vehicle?

I'm an old fart who learned to drive with a stick over twenty years ago but haven't, sadly, driven with one in over ten years. Chalk me up as one of those lazy, 'shiftless' Americans.

_Lazza