How Do You Hold Your Steering Wheel?

[Ben]

I just saw this link in a work email sent to our safety contacts list. I have known about safety organizations wanting us to get away from "10 and 2" for a while, yet am really bad about doing it after driving the "old" way for so many years (though my "old" way is usually one hand on the top of the steering wheel and the other on the armrest).

I hadn't seen the "avoid hand over hand turning" thing before though. Factoring in the probability of an air bag going off (or more accurately, not going off), this seems to be a clunky way to turn, especially if you have to do a quick, tight turn.

How do you all hold your steering wheels?

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10795756-get-with-the-times-youre-driving-all-wrong

[Nick1911]

10 and 2.  But then, noting I own has airbags.

[TechMan]

10 and 2, it's hard to unlearn the old way.

[Ron]

With my knee, it is easier to hold the phone and text that way.















j/k  

[SADShooter]

10 and 2. I have experimented with the low grip, but can't acclimate to it.

[vaskidmark]

10 O'clock.

Couple of years ago when I had the wreck I was holding the wheel at 10 & 2.  Got the 3rd & 4th fingers of both hands pretty well screwed by the airbag.  Still cannot make a fist with the right hand (4th finger does not close all the way) which also gives me some small problems with skinny handgun stocks.  But since I got rid of those itty-bitty things on the J-frames years ago it really does not make much difference.

The 3 & 9 shuffle your hands manuever was explained to me as avoiding having both hands come off the wheen when making a sharp turn.    You cannot make a sharp turn if you are doing the 3 & 9 shuffle your hands move.  

stay safe.

[Hawkmoon]

When I'm doing it "right" -- 9 and 3. I'm old enough that I was taught 10 and 2, but then I got into sports car racing and 10 &2 does not work well for precise control at high speed. Completely irrespective of air bags, I was changed over to 9 &3 around 1978 or so. Once I bought my first vehicle with an air bag, I quickly realized that the lower my hands were on the wheel, the less chance I'd have of getting my left hand shoved through the window of the driver's door if the bag deployed. However, 5 & 7 just doesn't give me much control of the vehicle's direction.

To be honest, though, these days I'm more likely to be holding the steering wheel at 9 with the left hand, and a giant Diet Coke with the right hand.

[seeker_two]

8 & 4....it's actually safer, less fatiguing, & gives you just as much control as 10 & 2....

[Doggy Daddy]

10 O'clock.

Couple of years ago when I had the wreck I was holding the wheel at 10 & 2.  Got the 3rd & 4th fingers of both hands pretty well screwed by the airbag.  Still cannot make a fist with the right hand (4th finger does not close all the way) which also gives me some small problems with skinny handgun stocks.  But since I got rid of those itty-bitty things on the J-frames years ago it really does not make much difference.

The 3 & 9 shuffle your hands manuever was explained to me as avoiding having both hands come off the wheen when making a sharp turn.    You cannot make a sharp turn if you are doing the 3 & 9 shuffle your hands move.  

stay safe.

My hand position varies a bit, according to what type of vehicle, and what make and model I'm driving.  Generally I'm in the 9 and 3 or 8 and 4 area.  I'll note that in the picture with the article, the fingers are shown wrapped around the wheel so that they are inside the rim.  This can cause unsteady turning as you place your fingers to avoid the spokes.  Even worse, should you hit a pothole or whatever, the wheel could whip suddenly, injuring your finger with the spoke.

Push pull turning is a bit awkward to learn at first.  I've found it can be picked up easier by practicing with a pizza pan.  Grip it as if you were gripping a steering wheel and practice turning it clockwise and counter-clockwise while keeping your hands opposite each other.  For instance, turning clockwise, grip the pan with your left hand and turn it clockwise (hand moving up) while your right hand slides along the edge staying opposite your left hand. Then grip with the right hand, pulling down, while the left hand slides down opposite the right.  Keep the hands parallel to each other.  Keep practicing until it feels natural and you can do it without dropping the pan.  Then practice some more using your good china instead. 

DD

[T.O.M.]

On a good, calm day, my right hand rests at about 4, and the left hand just kind of floats around.  As soon as I get into traffic, or bad weather, or anything remotely exciting, I go to something close to 9 and 3, maybe a little higher.  I think that was where my hands were when I had the experience of an air bag deploying in my face.  No hand or arm issues.

[230RN]

Well, I'll be darned.  My license expires soon and I'll have to take another driving road test (State requirement for us olde phartes) and I've been practicing the 10 and 2 hold because I thought that was "correct."  Maybe I ought to pick up or download a Colorado driver's manual and review it for any more of this new-fangled stuff.

I've also been practicing other things I thought were "recommended."

Like maybe I ought to find out what the deal is with the air bags and steering wheel grip.  That's a new one on me. I do hand-over hand steering and can whip that wheel around pretty good that way.

Glad to have spotted this thread --thanks, Ben!

Terry, 230RN

[Perd Hapley]

Is anyone else surprised that people actually use 10 and 2? I guess I thought that was just a textbook thing that no one really does.

I don't think I'm all that consistent. Depends on conditions, mood, and whether I'm shifting frequently, as opposed to highway driving or driving an automatic.

[Chuck Dye]

In the Freightliner, when I am on alert, 9 & 3.  Most of the time, left at 8, right at 4 or draped over the gear lever.

In the Yukon I vary with some frequency.  9 & 3 when on alert, 8 & 10 much of the time, occasionally 10 & 2.  

I did learn, the hard way driving manual steering cars and trucks off-road, not to hang digits inside the wheel.

[lee n. field]

12:00 high

[Ben]

Is anyone else surprised that people actually use 10 and 2? I guess I thought that was just a textbook thing that no one really does.

On open roads and easy driving, I use my "incorrect" one hand hold, but when I'm, for instance, driving in heavy LA traffic, I automatically and subconsciously go to 10 and 2. At this point in my life, I would be hard-pressed to "automatically" switch to 8 and 4 during stressful driving conditions.

I guess in the original post I should have also added, "How were you taught to hold the wheel?" because that is likely a major factor in what you revert to in stressful driving conditions.

[AJ Dual]

Meh... 8 and 4, maybe. I drive a manual, so mostly 8, and gearshift I guess. Move my hands around as I get tired of holding the wheel that way.

Steering wheel safety is overplayed. I think the whole thing is borne of teenagers laying back in the seat steering with their foot or knee or something to be cool/silly, and then going off a cliff or whatever. You hear of plenty of accidents where they "lost control of the vehicle", but I can't for the life of me remember EVER hearing of an accident where it was caused by "driver not holding the steering wheel right". Maybe it happens a lot, and they just never write it up that way. I don't know...

The "don't let the airbag break your arms" has some merit to it. However, the accelerometers are programmed to a relatively high degree of lawyer-proofness and will only set it off in very specific circumstances where the crash is going to hurt you more than the airbag going off will. If your hands are on the wheel, it's going to slap them out of the way, and do it hard. Although fingers to the outside of the wheel will offer less resistance to the bag as it goes off.

If you're actually turning the wheel enough to be  going hand-over-hand, by default you're going 25mph or less, parking, doing a right-turn etc., or your vehicle has an extremely lousy steering ratio, or you're in a Tokyo Drift competition or Euro style road-rally on dirt. If you turn that hard at the speeds likely to kill you, you're probably already in the process of crashing/dying.

[Jocassee]

Right hand on the shifter, knee at 4:00, and left hand holding diet coke.

I'd like to say I learned that from my parents but I pretty much figured that out on my own.

Going up the mountains, there is a stretch nearby that has a 2000 ft altitude differential, by my count 55 turns in a 7.5 miles

Doing that with a 5 speed and one hand on the shifter can be challening, especially with a little 2.5-hamster engine with such a narrow power band.

[230RN]

My goal in all this practice is to eliminate any sources of checkmarks (or "Xs," maybe) during the driving test.  I figure I'll screw up enough things on the test that any low-score habits I can eliminate, should be eliminated.

My insurance ecompany says they'll give me a break on premiums if I take an olde pharte driving course, and I may do that.

I'm getting close to 30 years of driving with no tickets or accidents caused by me, so I figure I'm doing OK in the practical, real world of driving.  I hate to sound rebellious, but sometimes recommendations by experts remind me of medical fads which reverse themselves every couple of years. 

However, being a good little citizen, I'm willing to listen and learn.

That air-bag stuff seems significant.  I gotta research that some more.

Terry, 230RN

[K Frame]

I steer with my knees.

You don't want to know how I shift.

[Harold Tuttle]

don't get me started on left leg out the window foot on the mirror drivers

[Monkeyleg]

Hand position varies a lot. Sometimes on the interstate I'll do 10 and 2, other times it's 10 with the left hand and the right hand on the gear shift. Around town the hands are all over the place. If I'm going to make a turn, for example, my left hand goes to the point on the wheel that will be at 9 o' clock when the turn is completed, so I can just release the wheel, let it straighten out after the turn, and then hold it again.

[BlueStarLizzard]

All over the place.


I drove with my mom and dad for a long time before taking drivers ed, so I didn't run into the 4&8 thing until after I had already established driving habits based on my parents teaching.

So, 10 and 2 when i'm stressed, low or midway up the wheel when I'm comfortable, and (most commen) right hand at one, cause I have a ciggerette in the other hand.

[Scout26]

I drive a stick, so right hand on the shifter and left hand kinda goes here, there and everywhere.

[Harold Tuttle]

suicide knobs FTW

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

palm wheel with right hand at 2
or left hand at 10 while i toss newspapers

i do use 2 feet on pedals 
that stirs some folks up