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?

Comments

Re:One hand, 12 o'clock ...

[mcgrew]

when you are screaming down an Interstate that goes through or around an major US city, at rush hour, doing 85 MPH to keep up with traffic

Lemming, that's really dumb. If everybody's doing 20 mph over the speed limit, set the cruise to 70 and you have a very enjoyable ride as traffic backs up behind you and you have no need to pass anyone.

But the lemmings all drive as if it's some sort of race. Jesus, in a ten mile trip that 15 mph difference doesn't make much of a time difference at all, and driving is a lot less harrowing and a lot cheaper when you don't have to keep speeding up and slowing down just because everybody else is. Yes, we have a herding instinct, being social animals, but we supposedly have the intelligence to overcome dangerous instincts.

Hell, a few years ago when gas was $4.50 and I made a hundred mile trip I'd drive 55. Half an hour more on the road, but used a lot less gas.