And yet out among the general population where automatic vehicles make up some 95 per cent of the cars driving around, very few people are even aware of the skill, nor even pay it any attention.

However, it seems almost counter-intuitive that as bipeds, whenever we engage "D' in an automatic car, the left foot should become redundant and flop around uselessly in the footwell when it could become far more usefully employed.

Or should it?

While there is no legislation which prohibits left-foot braking, the NRMA says the practice is not recommended for day-to-day driving.

"NRMA driver training recommends the right foot be used for one task at a time," the association says in its advisory.

"Our learner drivers are also taught to respond to various potential hazards by removing the right foot from the accelerator pedal (reducing speed) and placing or 'covering ' the brake pedal to reduce reaction time.

"If both feet are placed over various controls it has been found that a driver can jump or press both the accelerator and brake pedal at the same time, causing the vehicle to both accelerate and brake."

Rick Bates, who has competed at the highest levels of tarmac and rally competition and is regarded as one of the best driver-trainers in the ACT, also believes left-foot braking should be left to the experts.

He perfected the skill while driving a front-wheel drive course car for the 1993 London-Sydney marathon and has used it ever since, even in his day-to-day driving. It has become second nature.

But he says that learning does require a "rewiring" of the brain - and many drivers just don't have the skill level to do so safely, even though they think they might.

Over time, the right foot of an experienced driver in an automatic vehicle develops the ability to modulate just the right amount of pressure to suit the needs of accelerating a car, or alternatively applying the correct amount of brake pedal pressure.

Suddenly giving the braking task to a left foot completely unaccustomed to the role may be a mistake, says Rick Bates

"I don't teach it [left-foot braking] or recommend it any more because the average person isn't capable of it and in an emergency, they could end up with feet on both pedals - and there's been documented cases of that," he said.

"Most cars do have a throttle cut-off now; if the engine computer detects that both pedals are overlapped, then the engine automatically cuts out. But suddenly losing engine power can be dangerous as well.

"Generally speaking, if you are using left-foot braking every day on the public road as I do, then I'm either using one pedal or the other. But that's something I've taught myself over a long period of time and I don't even think about it any more.

"For a practised person competing in rallying and racing, it [left-foot braking] is advantageous because it makes the car behave in a certain way, which can make you faster out of a corner.

"But for the average driver, I'd suggest just stick with what you know."