Hello I'm Chris. I've seen a lot of different
steering techniques. Gangster, [Music] steering with one hand, [Music] wax on wax off, but would you fail the UK driving test for your
steering technique? No. As long as you're in control of your car and keeping both hands on the
steering when needed will be important for this. Well that's great news and the end of the video.
But did those techniques really demonstrate good control of the car? Not only that, but
with those techniques, when you steer, your arms cover the airbag which is in the centre
of the steering wheel.
The airbag explodes out in a crash at approximately 100 to 200 miles per
hour. You're going to get your hands or wrists in your face at that speed. So it's definitely
best to keep your arms clear of the airbag. Another steering method I've seen is where people
put their hand through the steering wheel here. Again, not only does it cover the airbag but if
you drive over a big pothole or get involved in an accident then the steering wheel could spin
back and really hurt your wrists. To be able to steer the car and be in control we first need to
make sure that the seat is correctly adjusted. Some seats are adjusted with
buttons but this one's manual. If you can, then adjust the height of the seat
first. Make sure you're sitting high enough to get a good view of the road ahead but also have
a space between your head and the roof. Ideally, when you look straight ahead your eye line is
roughly in line with the middle of the window. You could also sit on a cushion if it helps.
To
adjust the part of the seat you're sitting on, there's a bar at the front of the seat. With one
hand on the steering wheel and one on the bar, adjust the seat so that when you press the clutch
to the floor in a manual car or accelerator in an automatic that there's a slight bend in your
leg. You don't want to be stretching or too cramped up to the pedals or you'll have less
control and get more tired on long journeys. Next is the back part of the seat. In this car,
it's adjusted by turning this dial but some cars are different.
Adjust the seat so that you're
comfortable. It should support your back while you're driving. You don't want to be lying
down or stretching for the steering wheel or squashed up to it as you'll have less control
and it will be uncomfortable on long journeys. Now you might need to adjust the position
of the steering wheel. The steering wheel is on a column which is often adjustable.
To check that it's in the best position, sit back in your seat, put your arms out and rest
your wrists on top of the steering wheel. If you can't reach it or your wrists are behind the
steering wheel then you'll have to adjust it. To adjust the steering wheel in this
car there's a catch just here. It's a bit stiff and be careful your knee
isn't in the way and pull it down. You can now move the steering wheel up
and down if you can't see the dials and in and out.
Now try reaching your arms out again
and make sure that your wrists touch the top of the steering wheel and then push the catch back
up to lock it in position. If you can't adjust the position of the steering wheel in your car
then you might need to adjust the seat a bit more to get in the best position. You've adjusted
the seat and the steering wheel and you're now sitting in the best position for driving to give
you maximum control and comfort. Now when holding the steering wheel there should be a slight bend
in your arms.
You're not stretching or too close. For safety, just make sure your head
restraint is in the correct position. The rigid part of the head restraint should be
at least as high as your eyes or top of your ears and as close to the back of
your head as comfortable. Pull it up to adjust it or press this button
at the base and move it down. Just so you know, in some cars you can also adjust the height of the
seat belt so that it doesn't cut into your neck. Ideally, for control and safety, it's recommended
to have your hands on the steering wheel in this quarter-to-three position or ten-to-two.
Whichever you feel is more comfortable. Holding the steering wheel in either of
these positions means that you're not blocking the airbag and you're ready to react
to anything that you need to effectively. Keep both hands on the steering wheel when
driving unless you're using a control or you physically can't. One hand on the steering wheel
like this gives you less control and it can weigh down the steering to one side and make you
gradually steer to the side your hand is. You won't get any faults on your driving test
for how you hold the steering wheel as long as you're in control and holding the steering
wheel with both hands when you should.
When driving around gradual bends like this, there's no
need to shuffle your hands on the steering wheel. Have a light grip and just keep your
hands fixed on the steering wheel. There's no need to steer like this. Just have a light grip on the steering wheel
and smoothly steer without any jerky movements. So keeping your hands fixed on the steering
wheel is ideal for gradual and small turns but if I keep my hands fixed on the steering
wheel for big turns then it doesn't work. The car swung out too far from the
kerb and my arms blocked the airbag. For big turns like at junctions, when normally
driving at a slower speed, I'll have to move my hands on the steering wheel feeding the steering
wheel round using a technique called pull-push. Now normally when using the pull-push technique
you'd keep both hands on the steering wheel, but for demonstration purposes only I want to show
you how only one hand grips at a time.
I'll show you in slow motion. When I steer right I'll start
by gripping with my right hand at the top and pull down to the bottom then my left hand meets
it, grips and I'll push up with my left hand. To steer left, grip with my left hand,
pull down, right hand doesn't grip but takes over at the bottom. Right hand
grips, pushes up. To steer right, right hand grips, left hand pushes up from
the bottom. To straighten the steering, left hand grips from the top and pulls down,
right hand doesn't grip but slides down the steering wheel to the bottom, meets my left
hand and now I'll push up with my right hand. And now the steering is straight. It
might look tricky but it just takes a bit of practice. You can actually practice
the pull-push steering at home with a plate and try and turn it as if it's a steering
wheel. Just be careful not to drop it. So don't forget that only one hand
grips at a time and use the whole size of the steering wheel for big
efficient turns.
Try to keep your hands mirroring each other, meeting at
the top and bottom of the steering wheel. You'd normally keep both hands on the steering
wheel but I just wanted to show how only one is gripping at a time. The other hand slides down
or up ready to take over from the other hand. Your right hand stays to the right half of the
steering wheel and the left keeps to the left. You might think that it's a slow, ineffective
way of steering, but you can actually steer quite quick if needed. Pull down with
one hand, then push up with the other. Pull down from the top, push up from the bottom. Some new drivers think this little
shuffle is the pull-push steering, but it isn't quite right. It's
more work and less effective. This also isn't pull-push steering.
It's not as effective and quite jerky. It can vary slightly from car to car but in
this car, with the wheels pointing straight, it's about one and a half turns to the left or
right for maximum steering, also called full-lock. If you loosen your grip on the steering wheel
after a turn then it will self-straighten because of something clever called caster angle.
The front
wheels will return to point straight on their own, but the speed at which it does self-straighten
can vary depending on the speed you're travelling and the car you're driving. So, although
it straightens itself, it's still good to straighten the steering yourself for maximum
precise control. If you loosen your grip to allow it to self-straighten as you drive over a
pothole for example, then you could lose control. When it comes to slow reversing
then you can hold the steering wheel with one hand near the top
and one hand low down on the wheel or if it's uncomfortable then you can rest your
left arm on the back of the front passenger seat.
Steer in the direction you
want the back of the car to go. Left to make the back go left and right
for it to go right. You might find that you need to start turning or straightening
the steering earlier than seems necessary. Bear in mind that the front of the car
turns in the opposite direction to the back. Let's leave the car park and go onto some roads. Knowing how much to turn and when to straighten
the wheels gets better with practice. It's very easy to cross arms and
straighten the steering too late. Start to straighten the steering before the
car is straight. You need to time it so that the wheels are pointing straight as soon as
the car is pointing where you want it to go. Also trying to find the exit to
a car park can be a challenge. Pull-push steering for these big turns. Steering left, left hand pulls down from the top. Back to gradual turns, so keeping my
hands fixed on the steering wheel.
For this sharp corner, back to the pull-push
steering. Pull down from the top with my right hand, push up with my left then straighten
the wheels and go around the park vehicles. Keep the steering smooth as you go around the
roundabout without any jerky sudden movements. You don't want to destabilize your car
or make your passengers sway around, so try to steer with nice smooth movements. You will get used to how your car behaves when
turning at different speeds as they do vary. Someone practising the reverse parking manoeuvre.
Keeping my hands fixed on the steering wheel here. Nice and smooth, no jerky movements. Avoid steering like this. Bad technique,
didn't steer enough and went towards the kerb. If you want some tips on how to turn left,
then have a look at our other video. I'll leave a link for you in the description. Let's
say on your driving test, that you cross your arms when you turn left but it was a safe precise
turn, you didn't swing out wide from the kerb or swing towards it or a parked vehicle after the
turn, then you wouldn't get any driving faults. So crossing your arms isn't a fault on the
driving test as long as you're in control.
But don't forget, you would be blocking the airbag.
Try to avoid doing any jerky movements like this. Steering right. Pull down with my right hand, push up with my left, now pull down
with the left, push up with the right. When you steer, try not to let your
hands go past the 12 o'clock position. For when you're normally driving slow and need
to do big turns then use the pull-push steering. [Music] If you want to know how to drive a manual car then watch this video next.
It covers how and when to change gear, plus how to use clutch control and lots more. Thanks a lot
for watching. Please give it a like if it helped and subscribe for more videos like this. In the
meantime, keep safe on the road and bye for now!.