Executive summary - don't drive with your hands at the ten to two position or you may suffer "gruesome" damage from an airbag deployment.
bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/22/10795756-get-with-the-times-youre-driving-all-wrong
I think I drive with one hand at five o'clock, and the other languorously trailing over the armrest. I don't know, I don't pay enough attention to remember. Is that safe? What do you do?
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Largely speaking I'm a 10 to 2 ite, but I don't currently own an air bag equipped car.
I must admit on reading the article, wonder what a UK road safety organisation would say. And I get the suspicion that American crashes must occur with no warning since I would have thought the the idea a dirty great bag is going to emerge from my steering wheel in the next second would make most drivers let go of the wheel.
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Are American airbags the same as ours?
IIRC at one time they were bigger and inflated differently, legacy of their being designed in market where there was massive reluctance to wear seatbelts. I'd have though if the injuries mentioned were commonplace in Europe ther'd be more local publicity.
OTOH Zero can tell about airbag deployment in a Laguna.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 26 Mar 12 at 13:28
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>> I must admit on reading the article, wonder what a UK road safety organisation would
>> say. And I get the suspicion that American crashes must occur with no warning since
>> I would have thought the the idea a dirty great bag is going to emerge
>> from my steering wheel in the next second would make most drivers let go of
>> the wheel.
The words of someone who has not had an airbag deployment. You are too busy trying to steer away from the impending doom to think "Oh I am going to crash I must take my hands off the wheel because of the airbag deployment"
My hands were at 10-2 when I had an airbag deployment, slight burns inside the forearms were the only effect to my upper limbs.
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Right hand at 1 o'clock, elbow lightly resting on the right hand side of the wheel. Left hand lightly at 7 o'clock, arm resting in my lap. That way everything is perfectly balanced and supported.
Also the hand is ready-positioned for a heel of the hand spin the wheel easy manoeuvre.
But then having rear wheel drive the car mostly steers itself.
If it had an airbag I'd probably put a pillow over the wheel.
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I drive at 'ten to two' I can't do otherwise now, too ingrained in me since my police driving courses in the early 80's.
I've also had an airbag go off whilst driving like that....
I still have all fingers and thumbs. My right hand briefly swished past my head, causing slight pain....that was it... and it was the involuntary movement that caused slight pain, not the hitting of my head.
I had more pain in the whip lash caused by me ramming a Peugeot 406... and the whiplash was minor in the big scheme of things.
I think the Yanks have more powerful airbags, because they are less likely to belt up and are generally more lardy.
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>>generally more lardy. ???
We've seen the photo you published.
;>)
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You `ole fuddy-duddys are so dated! - the "modern" way is elbow resting through open window, holding wheel at 3`o`clock, left hand either fiddling with CD or making "Yo-man" high-five signals to other " Bros" out a "strollin"
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>> >>generally more lardy. ???
>>
>> We've seen the photo you published.
>>
That's one of the bonuses of me holidaying over there. Some folk make me look positively trim.
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I sit as far away from the steering wheel as possible and my hands are on the wheel at quarter past eight (or is it twenty to three?).
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 26 Mar 12 at 16:02
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I find the blood drains away from my hands if I hold my arms outstretched for any length of time. I like to rest my elbows on something.
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do you adjust them when the clocks change? ;-)
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I might be mistaken, but I seem to remember a traffic officer demonstrating a couple of years back the 8-4 position. Said it took the strain out of the upper arms and shoulders specifically when cruising on a motorway.
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I was a passenger in a car when the airbag went off after the driver had a light collision. Broke two of my ribs. Airbags are not soft !
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Also has a habit of causing a burn/scrap on the nose or even breaking it.
Bye the way I meant 8 and 4. Sort of mirror image of the 10-2. ;-)
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Heel of right hand lightly pressed on wheel at about 1330 hrs. Left arm langourously stretched over back of passenger seat when not otherwise occupied in caffeine based activities.
Doesn't everyone?
:-)
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i do the 8-4 and lessens strain on the arms on a long run
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No, twenty past eight for me. When it isn't just a finger and thumb at 6 o'clock. Or one or both hands more or less anywhere actually.
Never tried steering with my feet, but have tried to hold the car steady with one knee a few times. It isn't a promising technique.
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Doesn't everyone steer with their knees while they roll a fag?
Pat
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One to avoid, often used by people who sit up close to the steering wheel, is the forearm making a chord across the wheel and gripping at the top.
Particularly bad if you are also wearing a chunky watch on that arm when the airbag deploys. but the time of death being stamped on the forehead does assist the accident investigation.
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>> One to avoid, often used by people who sit up close to the steering wheel,
>> is the forearm making a chord across the wheel and gripping at the top.
If ever I see (in my rearview mirror) the driver behind doing that I try to increase the distance between my car and his.
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I don't understand: to do that you'd have to be able to reach the wheel with your elbow - and if you can do that, you're much too close.
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That largely depends on how long your legs are W de B!
In my case, I'm always too close.
Pat
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From previous comments of yours I seem to remember you saying you have rather large feet....presumambly on the end of rather long legs!
Pat
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>> you have rather large feet....presumambly on the end of rather long legs!
Dear oh dear. Just the other week people were leering and salivating over confusedgirl's (where she by the way?) inside leg measurement. Now Pat is shocking us all by sexually harassing Wildebeest.
No doubt she will claim that he 'asked for it' by posting provocative details about his measurements. Then we will have to remind her that that is no excuse for making the poor fellow feel cheap and used. There is little doubt that he will need years of counselling, and even then his personal life and relationships may be ruined by the trauma.
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I've seen van drivers do it, sometimes with the other hand holding a phone.
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Oh, was that you watching from the long grass, Manatee? I should never have believed those van drivers when they said there was nobody else around.
But they were van drivers, not lorry drivers. The very thought! Off now for a very thorough shower.
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I looked at this thread this morning and considered my driving position for the rest of the day before replying.
Right hand at three-o'clock position with elbow on window ledge, left hand on left knee, feet both planted flat on the floor with heels up against the seat base.
If a potential "situation" develops ahead, I sit up straight, place my left hand on the wheel at nine-o'clock and cover the brake pedal in readiness. Although just knocking the cruise control off for ten seconds is usually enough to allow the obstruction to disperse naturally.
I do adopt the ten-to-two position when concentrating hard, such as when threading the Hilux and trailer through city streets, or if I'm driving my own car at speeds above xxx mph.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Tue 27 Mar 12 at 21:11
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>> a very thorough shower.
Might make a chap feel a bit more expensive. But that used feeling doesn't wash off so easily.
So far Pat has got off scot free, as these sexual exploiters so often do. But when Wildebeest sues, as he is is certain to do, many hysterical, inarticulate supporters will surge out of the woodwork making backdated accusations.
They may not all be true of course. But mud sticks, and so it should.
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I got off scot free with rolling fags and steering with knees too AC;)
Pat
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>> I got off scot free with rolling fags and steering with knees too AC;)
>>
You don't see the old knee steering so much nowadays, do you.
I had to intervene once and absolutely insist we stopped, when a mate indulged in knee steering, so he could roll a fag, whilst driving his company car down the I77 from Houston to Brownsville in Texas, heading towards the Mexican border.
The rain was truly unreal, of biblical proportions...and him doing a sedate 60mph was ok, apart from the HGV's catching us up and then overtaking, at 70mph. Can you imagine the spray they were kicking out? I was watching them in the passenger door mirror, some of them obviously didn't see us 'til late.
I truly thought I was going to die.
He thought my reaction was hilarious....(i've never been a good passenger).
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>> I had to intervene once and absolutely insist we stopped, when a mate indulged in
>> knee steering, so he could roll a fag, whilst driving his company car down the
>> I77 from Houston to Brownsville in Texas, heading towards the Mexican border.
Isn't rolling a fag something in which homosexuals indulge?
:-)
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Is it ten to two or not? - Slidingpillar
