The gentlemen from Jersey City calling about the 97 Jetta automatic transmission which delays shifting into reverse. I had a 1996 VW Golf with 2.0 ABA engine, with the "01M" 4 speed automatic transmission, with the same problem, more than once. I owned the car from it's birth up until about 175k miles, then sold it. If the caller has the same 01M tranny (I'm guessing he does), then there is no dipstick for checking levels, and the place to add fluid is hidden pretty well. But I had the same basic problem more than once, and the problem was caused by low transmission fluid level each time. More than once I had to add fluid to solve this slow shifting problem. (The problem also improved slightly when the transmission fluid warmed up.) Check out this excellent write up on changing the fluid in this tranny, or go to the end of the document where it shows how to check the tranny fluid level. http://pics.tdiclub.com/members/drivbiwire/Auto%20Fluid%20change%20procedure/01M%204%20Speed%20Automatic%20Fluid%20change%20Procedure.pdf

This information from the Society for Barefoot Living is a little dated, but it's unlikely things have changed much. It's not illegal to drive barefoot in any of the 50 states and DC. http://www.barefooters.org/driving/ States have searchable statutes. Here's Louisiana's: http://legis.la.gov/lss/tsrssearch.htm Searches on terms like "barefoot" and "shoeless" turn up nothing.