8 and 4 not 10 and 2

sounds like a Chicago song

...i was talking to my neighbor the other day who's daughter just started driving and he mentioned that they teach you now that you should drive with your hands at 8 and 4...not 10 and 2 like they used to teach (and definitely not one at 12 and one on the center console or arm rest...like i like to pimp it ). he didn't really have an answer as to why so i googled it.

dayum. do i need to retrain or just disconnect my airbag?

 

I've been doing the 9 and 3 ever since I saw open wheel racers doing it that way. Then again, their steering wheels don't even have a top or bottom any more.




I'm not too worried about my thumbs......my problem is that I use the top of my steering wheel as a drum practice pad and one day my airbag is going to deploy and send a 7A wood tip right through my skull.

 

My dad always taught me to hold the wheel like the racers, lest I wanted broken wrists in an accident. That was my first driving lesson, it was also one I had to abandon during the road test. Nice that driver's ed is finally catching up.

 

Interesting......

I can say that after being punched in the face with an airbag (on April fools day, go figure), I do think about them more.

I've been changing my grip up some....new truck, new wheel....but I still find myself creeping back to the 12 O'clock and console posture.

Walker, is this the same neighbor who did the hack job hair cut on your dog?

 

or a messed up Dr Pepper ad.

I prefer 12 and/or 8. 12:00 with the left hand so i can rest the left arm on the door, and/or 8:00 with the left knee, which leaves the right hand free to do other stuff (eat, drink, turn off the gdxm cuz they play the same sh*t no matter which channel i'm on). Also, 12:00 is the easiest spot to hold the phone and text and still keep one eye on the road.

And don't even start cuz you know you do it too.

 

yes, it's an airbag thing. They want your arms out of the way in case the airbag deploys.

Tracy

 

Why not engineer the airbag to be a more appropriate shape? Would it be that much less effective to make it rectangular, oval, or even more hourglass shaped? 8 and 4 doesn't seem to be a highly effective position for vehicle control, as a leverage thing.

 

I go 9-3 when I race. I do the 12 noon daily driving. But I do grab 9-3 if there is an "oh shit" moment

 

right elbow on console, hand at 5 on the wheel

 

9-3 here most the time. Racing habit. Even one handed its either at 9 or at 3.

 

Knee at 6:00

 

Sitting Indian style with feet at 5 and 7. It leaves my hands free for more important shit, like texting and posting.

 

This or left elbow on door and hand at 9.

 

I'm normally at ten and three in the race car, but find myself with only the ten o'clock only on the wheel much of the time.

I am normally around ten and three on the street also, but I haven't been in a crash to blow the airbags yet either... Them things are pretty violent when they deploy...

 

Hands on the phone, knee under the wheel.

 

if memory serves, my mom used to drive with her left hand at 12 and swinging wildly at my brother and me in the back seat.

 

Left hand 12:00...Right hand beer...why would anybody change that for airbags........

 

That's how I remember it! I swear she had a telescoping right arm, she could smack me when I was cowering in the far back corner of a Buick station wagon!

 

I just let my truck steer itself