Remember when your driving instructor in high school told you to hold the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions? According to the AAA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration you should now hold the steering wheel at the 9 and 3 o’clock positions. This way if your airbag mechanism deploys, your hands and arms won’t be in the way. Airbag modules in the steering column are designed to deploy upward to protect your head and chest. The higher up on the steering wheel your hands are, the more likely they will be directly over the plastic cover when it opens and inflates the airbag at 150 to 250 miles per hour.
Reported injuries from improper hand placement when an airbag deploys include amputation of fingers or entire hands and traumatic fractures. The bags can also slam your hands directly into your head causing broken noses and concussions.
Another long-standing driving technique now considered dangerous is using the hand over hand steering wheel turning style. Instead use the “push-pull” method – push the wheel up with one hand and pull it down with the other without crossing your arms. Hand over hand maneuvers during turning should be avoided to prevent your arms from being in front of a deploying airbag in the event of a crash.
For information on automobile insurance, contact E. R. Munro and Company at 877-376-8676 or visit our Web site at www.ermunro.com.
