Jim Kenzie: When the clock nears 3, your driving is smoother

“Keep your mind on your driving, Keep your hands on the wheel …”

– “Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Back Seat,” by Paul Evans and the Curls (1959)

You all probably know some drivers with whom you don’t mind being a passenger. They have a certain confidence in their manner behind the wheel, which inspires the same in you.

They might even drive faster than some of the others within your circle.

So, what is it that makes the better drivers that much better?

I got a clue while being chauffeured from Innsbruck, Austria to Bolzano, Italy recently to attend a press event.

I’d flown all night, and despite a few hours of sleep on the plane, I was still dozing on and off as the driver, a 30-ish woman, ferried me to my destination.

The on-and-off part of that was largely due to the occasional lurch in the older Mercedes every time she changed direction, whether on the autobahn/autostrada, or even in town.

Nothing violent, nothing that would brand her as a terrible driver. Just not smooth.

I looked for clues, and immediately found one: her hands were all over the steering wheel. Turning to the right, even for a lane change, she would slide her right hand up the rim, and tug the wheel down.

Reverse above procedure for a left.

For tighter turns, as in parking lots, she reversed her hand, gripping the rim from the inside to twirl her way in and out.

Again, not smooth, but a continuous series of lurches.

And her hands were in constant motion.

Never in my experience has the superiority of the well-known and often-taught quarter-to-three steering wheel hand position been better illustrated than when contrasted with a bad example.

About 90 per cent of all driving can be done without moving your hands from the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions.

Doesn’t it follow that 90 per cent of the time, your hands should be in these positions? There’s no need to move them at all.

With this approach, most city corners and all freeway manoeuvres can be accomplished with a single sweeping arc one way, with a similar smooth return the other way, back to dead ahead.

Why quarter-to-three rather than the also-common ten-to-two?

At quarter-to-three you know exactly where the wheel is at all times. Your hands are balanced, gravity pulling the weight of both equally, the straight line connecting them exactly level with the hood of the car, and with the horizon.

Also, most steering wheels now have either spokes or at least thumb rests at the quarter-to-three locations, again making this position more stable, more comfortable.

Another problem this woman had was that, uncharacteristic for gender, she sat too far from the wheel. Thus she could not reach the top of the wheel with either hand without lifting her shoulders away from the seat back.

This eliminates the support needed to execute smooth steering action.

What if the turn is tighter than you can do with only 180 degrees of steering wheel rotation?

There are generally two schools of thought here: hand-shuffle, or hand-over-hand.

Most advanced driving schools I have been involved with prefer hand-over-hand.

Once your arms get to the point where they’re locked – usually a few degrees before a half-revolution of the wheel – release the lower hand (the right hand in a right-hand corner, the left in a leftie) and re-grasp the wheel just above the other hand, and continue the steering motion.

When returning to straight ahead, don’t just let go of the wheel; feed it back hand-over-hand until you are dead-straight ahead again.

In most modern cars anyway, one such hand-over-hand manoeuvre will take care of all but the tightest of parking situations.

Hand shuffle, which used to be taught in older British schools when the steering wheels were huge and car steering had no power assist, involves (for a right-hand corner) sliding the right hand up and the left hand down, tugging the wheel down, and repeating as needed.

A lot more confusing, a lot more work, and it’s harder to keep track of exactly where you are; especially in an emergency manoeuvre, you need to know where straight ahead is.

With hand shuffle, that’s tough.

Some drivers have returned to hand-shuffle because they’re afraid of having their arms broken if the steering wheel air bag goes off.

Well, if you’re in a crash severe enough to trigger the air bag, you probably have little or no control of where your arms are anyway.

And if hand-over-hand gives you better control of the car – and I am convinced it does – it reduces the chances of an air-bag-deploying crash happening in the first place, and surely that’s the top priority.

So this is the setup:

Seat adjusted so you can grasp the very top of the wheel with either hand, while keeping the elbow slightly bent, and the shoulders in constant contact with the seat back.

Hands at quarter-to-three at all times, unless in a very tight corner; hand-over-hand if you need more steering lock.

Why not give it a try?

And don’t be surprised if your friends and family start preferring to drive with you.

Jim Kenzie
Toronto Star