Sidebar: My mother was a professional driving instructor for several years in New Jersey back in the 60's - she worked for the Taggart School Of Driving, and was even voted "Instructor Of The Year" one year. She taught me a VERY valuable lesson when she taught me to drive; to wit: Put your left foot VERY lightly on the brake pedal (and I MEAN "lightly"; not hard enough to engage the brakes, but JUST enough to significantly cut down on reaction time, which doing so DOES) at all times - Automatic AND Manual transmission vehicles. I can't EVEN begin to count the # of times that I've avoided an accident using this method (over 1 million miles driven in 50+ years with ZERO accidents). Funny: When I went for my Driving Test in New Jersey, a NJ State Trooper is who administers the test; not sure if it's still that way. He saw my left foot hovering over the brake pedal and scolded me; when I told him that my Mom taught me to do so, he replied: "If you want to pass THIS test on THIS day, you'll brake with your right foot, young man!" I switched, passed the test, then told him that I was going back to left foot braking, for which I received a curt scowl, LOL...