Driving hints by Mike Daniels
Dip Di Consultant for Driving to the Corporate Industry

Do you remember many years ago when you may have been struggling to master the steering whilst learning to drive, perhaps your most difficult technique until the reverse around the corner came along, did the steering feel as if it was elastic – problems with getting straight once you turned the corner.

The wheel may have been big and thin, very hard to turn with no power steering. The drivers in those days needed to pull down on the wheel to create large movements to get the car to turn. We were all told to keep the hands at ten to two position on the wheel to make it easier to turn. But now we have much more modern cars with all sorts of power steering, electric and oil controlled.

The steering wheels are smaller the rim is thicker and made of leather or high grade plastics so the leverage to turn is not as great.

So why not revise our hand position and place them at quarter to three, we will call it a pistol grip. The thumbs over the centre spokes of the wheel and fingers placed around the rear of the spokes. By doing this you can flex your fingers more and reach the controls, such as dip switch, indicators stack without releasing the steering wheel and also roll the thumb towards centre of the wheel to access the horn (if placed in centre of wheel). By taking a lower grip there is less tension in the upper arms and shoulders this will reduce aches and pains and fatigue.

By doing this you will become more airbag friendly. The quarter to three position, your arms already being at their widest point, so they will be pushed aside as the airbag inflates.

There is a possibility, as the thumbs are around the wheel, damage could occur, so I do recommend rolling the thumbs outside the wheel rim if impact is unavoidable.

When working within the corporate industry I do say the pull/push method is useful at low speed manoeuvres, but again using full part of the wheel and not shuffle art of steering is a major subject.

What about rotational steering or fixed input steering which the Lewis Hamilton’s of today use, or palming by placing the palm of the hand flat on the rim of steering wheel and use the friction between palm and wheel and turn wheel quickly with one hand? NOT A SKILL to be taught to road drivers but one we advise when teaching security forces performing anti hijack manoeuvres.

Also steering/throttle relationships or steering/brakes relationships, remember always to be accurate and smooth, a badly timed movement at high speed can result in catastrophic consequences.

Steering is the most important driving skill, this can be noticed between a good driver and a great driver.

Always search to the horizon, lift the vision and focus where you would like the car to go, and eye co-ordination will take you there, this vision adjustment will allow more time to plan and work out where the car will be in fifteen seconds time, don’t forget at 60 mph the car is travelling 88 feet per second.

So fifteen seconds you will cover 440 yards.

So match your speed with your vision.

A vital factor for overall safety is smooth and accurate steering.