'Manual transmission foils car thieves'

Max_Damage

Two US car thieves failed to make their getaway - because the car they had just stolen had a manual transmission.

The teenagers armed with a gun approached a man outside a pizza restaurant in the US state of Georgia and stole his wallet and the keys to his Honda Accord.

Once they got inside the car, however, they could not start it because it had 'stick shift', according to an employee of the pizza restaurant.
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'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 the witness.

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 thus many drivers are unfamiliar with the challenges of a manual transmission.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0620/manual.html

I mean seriously, how stupid can someone get!?

Darragh29

Well, we are talking about America. They elected George Bush, I'm not surprised most of them can't put a car into gear.

wet-paint

That's quite beautiful, any slag we offer can't compare to the simple facts themselves.

milltown

I love the irony that an automatic car is less attractive to thieves here.

E92

Only in America would this happen. I nearly fell of my chair when I read it . That said some places in America still think that slavery should exist, you still cant drink till you're 21 in plenty of states, and a considerable number of them voted for George Bush, is it no wonder that they cant even get to grips with a 'stick shift', because a stick shift is like SOOOO difficult to use :rolleyes: . The Americans are so special that their cars even have different dash lights to ours, in our cars we get symbols, whereas in America they have it written in English eg 'Park Brake', 'Brake Fluid', Check Engine' etc:p .

Max_Damage

E92 wrote:

Only in America would this happen. I nearly fell of my chair when I read it . That said some places in America still think that slavery should exist, you still cant drink till you're 21 in plenty of states, and a considerable number of them voted for George Bush, is it no wonder that they cant even get to grips with a 'stick shift', because a stick shift is like SOOOO difficult to use :rolleyes: . The Americans are so special that their cars even have different dash lights to ours, in our cars we get symbols, whereas in America they have it written in English eg 'Park Brake', 'Brake Fluid', Check Engine' etc:p .

Not to mention that on the fuel gauge, alot of American spec. cars have 'Unleaded Fuel Only' written on them!