If you’ve read the headline then I’m sure you have a pretty good idea of what important skill I’m talking about. Here’s a hint, they’re jokingly called “Millennial Anti-Theft Devices” aka the good ole stickshift. Now it’s generally always a bad idea to steal a car but even worse is trying to steal a car without having any idea how to drive a stick.
Well, the joke/meme finally caught up with reality in Tennesse when two teens were busted for failing miserably at stealing a stick shift.
The teens, ages 15 and 17, attempted to steal one car from a woman in a parking garage. Frightened, she screamed and held down on the horn until the teens fled. An hour later, the kids snatched a pair of keys from another lady at a grocery store. They entered her vehicle only to find a manual transmission which neither of them knew how to operate more or less even start.
Ouch.
The duo was apprehended then charged with attempted robbery/carjacking, theft of property, and attempted theft of a vehicle in Juvenile Court.
Though good news for that second lady, an increasing amount of young folks don’t know how to drive a manual transmission these days.
A 2016 report found that only 18 percent of U.S. drivers know how to drive a manual car. Only about five percent of vehicles sold in the country that year had a stick shift; that’s down from 25 percent of vehicles in 1987.
The times are certainly changing that’s for sure. Well, at least those who drive manuals can rest easy; their stick shift will continue to thwart would-be thieves for years to come.
