Well, well.

Right after bemoaning the difficulty of renting a car with a stick shift, I find this article in the WSJ about how they’re becoming more popular again. (Link only available for subscribers)

It also has a lot of horror stories about what happens to people who don’t know how to drive them:

A woman learning to drive a stick in the parking lot of the Alexandria, Va., church last August popped the clutch, jumped a curb — and slid 85 feet into a brick pillar. The car was totaled and the church sustained $15,000 in damage — and had to cancel its Sunday services. (The woman, whom Fairfax County Police say was not cited, could not be reached for comment.)

“We have signs up now that say ‘No Practice Driving,'” says church administrator Betty Ware. “But we were thinking of adding another that says ‘Especially If You’re Learning on a Standard.'”