In every car with an automatic transmission, the brake is on the left and the gas is on the right. There are only two pedals, and you use your right foot for both. This layout is the same in every country, every car brand, and whether the steering wheel is on the left or right side of the vehicle.
The Standard Pedal Layout
In an automatic car, the wider pedal on the left is the brake, and the narrower pedal on the right is the gas (also called the accelerator or throttle). You press the brake to slow down and stop, and press the gas to speed up.
If you’re driving a manual (stick shift) car, there’s a third pedal: the clutch, all the way on the left. The order from left to right is always clutch, brake, gas. A simple way to remember this is the alphabet trick: reading right to left, the pedals spell A-B-C (Accelerator, Brake, Clutch). In an automatic, the clutch is removed, leaving just brake on the left and gas on the right.
This layout is universal. Right-hand drive countries like the UK, Japan, and Australia use the exact same pedal order. The entire driver’s setup shifts to the other side of the car, but the pedals themselves are never mirrored. Your right foot always operates the gas, and your right foot always operates the brake.
How to Tell Them Apart by Feel
The brake pedal is noticeably wider than the gas pedal. It’s designed that way so your foot can find it quickly in an emergency without looking down. The gas pedal is thinner and sits slightly lower, closer to the floor. In most cars, the brake pedal sits about 3 to 6 centimeters higher than the gas pedal.
This height difference is intentional. You’re meant to rest your heel on the floor while lightly pressing the gas during normal driving. The brake sits higher so that when you move to it, your heel lifts off the floor and you can press with the full force of your leg. That extra leverage matters when you need to stop hard.
Correct Foot Placement
Use only your right foot for both pedals. Your left foot stays on the footrest (sometimes called the dead pedal) on the far left side of the footwell. This is one of the most important habits for a new driver to build. Using your left foot for the brake is a common instinct, but it increases the risk of pressing both pedals at once or slamming the brake too hard because your left foot lacks the fine control that comes from practice on that pedal.
The most effective technique is to keep your right heel planted on the floor roughly between the two pedals. From there, you pivot your foot to the right for gas and to the left for brake. The ball of your foot does the pressing while your heel acts as an anchor. This gives you better sensitivity and a quicker, smoother transition between pedals than lifting your whole foot and moving it side to side.
Pedal Mix-Ups Are More Common Than You’d Think
Hitting the gas when you meant to hit the brake, called pedal misapplication, causes thousands of crashes. NHTSA data from North Carolina alone documented 2,411 pedal error crashes over a five-year period. Most of these happen in parking lots and driveways (about 57 to 77 percent, depending on the data source), typically at low speeds when a driver is maneuvering into or out of a space.
The most common scenario is a driver going straight (39% of cases), followed by parking maneuvers (25%) and backing up (11%). Two groups are disproportionately involved: very young drivers (under 20) account for about 18% of pedal errors despite causing only 3% of all crashes, a fivefold overrepresentation. Older drivers and those with cognitive challenges involving attention and quick decision-making are also at higher risk.
The takeaway for new drivers: slow, deliberate pedal habits built early prevent a surprisingly common type of crash. If you ever feel confused about which pedal your foot is on, stop the car completely and reorient before moving again.
One-Pedal Driving in Electric Cars
Many electric vehicles offer a feature called one-pedal driving that changes how the gas pedal works. When you lift your foot off the accelerator, the car doesn’t just coast like a traditional vehicle. Instead, the electric motor reverses its function, captures energy from the car’s forward motion, recharges the battery, and actively slows the car down. Lift your foot completely and the car can come to a full stop.
This means that in everyday driving, you can control your speed almost entirely with the gas pedal: press to go, release to slow. It reduces the constant back-and-forth switching between pedals, which many EV drivers find more relaxing, especially in stop-and-go traffic. The brake pedal is still there, though, and you should still use it in emergencies or any time you need to stop suddenly. One-pedal driving slows you down quickly, but it’s not a substitute for hard braking when someone pulls out in front of you.