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You're Driving All Wrong, Says NHTSA
antdude writes "This MSNBC Bottom Line story/article says that 'If you're a conscientious motorist who still does everything the way your driver's-ed instructor told you to, you're doing it all wrong. For decades, the standard instruction was that drivers should hold the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 positions, as envisioned on a clock. This, it turns out, is no longer the case. In fact, driving that way could cost you your arms or hands in particularly gruesome ways if your airbag deploys. Instead AAA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and many driving instructors now say you should grip the wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock. A few go even further, suggesting 8 and 4 to avoid the airbag mechanism as much as possible, but what formal research has been published on the varieties of hand positions suggests that this may lessen your control of the car.'" I usually hold even lower on the wheel, perhaps 4:30 and 7:30, but I also drive with my seat pushed farther forward than most people like. Drivers, what's your approach?
... like a boss.
I let my wife drive. I need my hands to hold my beer.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Left elbow out the window, steering wheel held by hanging thumb on steering wheel spoke. Right hand either: manipulating some text messaging device, hanging over back of bench seat or trying to slip up the skirt of some babe sitting next to me.
Front seat passengers should place feet up on the dashboard immediately on top of passenger airbag deployment panel to ensure major foot/leg injuries in the event of deployment.
Have gnu, will travel.
My clocks have numbers, not hands.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
That would be quite uncomfortable in a right-hand drive car, so instead I have a 3ish position.
My friend says that everyone would drive a whole lot more safely if there was a huge, sharp metal spike on the steering wheel that was pointed toward the driver's chest. I think he might be right.
You don't believe in fingers? I guess that's what happens from watching Myth Busters with a ton of narcotics flowing through your veins. "Hey, I always knew there was no such thing as fingers," you told the giant purple amradillo while waving a blurry hand in front of your own knees.
If you have prosthetic arms, the prosthetic hands are assumed.
Drive with your knees. It keeps your hands free for the important things like texting and eating.
Now, a few basic points about driving. One of the first things they teach you in Driver's Ed is where to put your hands on the steering wheel. They tell you put 'em at ten o'clock and two o'clock. Never mind that. I put mine at 9:45 and 2:17. Gives me an extra half hour to get where I'm goin'.
-George Carlin
My fingers still get crushed when I start moving.
What is with you Americans having to use these stupid units for everything? Is it that hard to say pi/6 and 5*pi/6 that everyone can understand?
I always liked George Carlin's advice:
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
Here they disregard not only hand positions. They also disregard turn signals, turn lanes, stop signs, stop lights, speed limits, weather conditions, following distances, and the laws of physics in general.
For example, last week someone in the right hand lane attempted to make a left-handed U-turn while I was driving past them in the left hand lane. They were on their way to buy cigarettes - had they hit me (as they quite nearly did) I would have spared them dying of lung cancer and bludgeoned them to death in the road.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I drive the same way! I've already had children, so I don't really care about what happens when the airbag goes off.