A firestorm of controversy seems to have been sparked by the comment I made to my permit-carrying son with regard to placing his hands at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock on the steering wheel.
From John F. Knippel: "The auto manufacturers have changed where items are located near the steering wheel to force us to adapt to the now-advocated positions of 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock. This is to prevent oversteering. 10 and 2 actually causes or encourages drivers to oversteer and then lose control of their vehicles, especially SUVs."
From Doris Milloy: "Last January, my husband and I took the AARP senior driver refresher course. In that course, the instructor said the new thinking is that the hands should be in the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions on the steering wheel because the driver has much more control over the steering of the car with hands in this position."
From R. Stickle: "Forget 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, or midnight and dusk, or 9 and 3, or whatever they are teaching in driver's ed. now. My favorite position for ultimate control of the steering wheel is 9 and knee."
From N. Burington: "I raised five kids and went through the agonies of learning to drive with all of them. My best answers to "Why can't I do it the way you do" were:
1. Because I'm your mother and I said so.
2. Because I have more experience.
And the one irrefutable statement:
3. Because I'm older and I pay for the insurance!"
With all due respect to R. Stickle's recommendation, which I don't think I'll be passing along to my son, the school of thought has changed the past decade with regard to the best hand placement for steering wheel control. Automobile industry experts now recommend that the left hand be placed anywhere from 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel and that the right hand be placed anywhere between 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock.
The lower hand positions are now considered safer to avoid overcorrecting, which can cause vehicles to roll over, slide or spin out of control. In addition, arms held lower are less likely to fatigue while driving or be crushed in the event that the driver-side airbag deploys.
Thank you to all the readers who offered input.
From Hope Hallaman: "I must say that I am at a loss to see what the possible benefit is of the Suncorp Metway Ltd. study on accident rates by zodiac sign, from the November 6 column.
Yup, you guessed it, I am a Gemini. (The sign that the study determined filed the most collision claims.) I must be one of the very few Geminis who has never been involved in a car accident, and has never received a moving violation. Now, I will fess up and say that I am guilty of driving much too fast, and I do have a few other bad habits while driving. But I am glad we are judged on prior driving history, marital status and so on. So, I will be the first to speak. Are they nuts?"
Spotted this message on the license plate of a green Volvo: I (heart) 2RGU. For the sake of the driver's spouse, I really hope it was the car of an attorney.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
