Steering a vehicle safely and accurately is obviously an essential skill that must be mastered by all drivers very early on in their driving career.<\/p>\n
Steering style<\/strong><\/p>\n Although there is a great deal of discussion about what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ when it comes to steering. The plain and simple facts are – if you can make the car go where you want it to go, when you want it to go there your steering is perfectly acceptable, no matter what you do with the steering wheel. That being said there is one rule that is accepted by most and that it is ‘you should normally keep both hands on the steering wheel as much as possible’. It is also generally accepted that for driving straight ahead a good hand position is around the ‘quarter to three’ or ‘ten to two’ position. By adopting this position you will find it easier to maintain accurate straight line control, it will also allow you to quickly steer left or right in an emergency situation, and make it easier to operate the ‘stalk controls’ (lights, indicators, wipers etc).<\/p>\n Your posture<\/strong><\/p>\n Quite a common issue with new drivers is that they are often hunched forward over the steering wheel. Doing this will not only significantly reduce your control of the steering wheel, it will also shorten your observation, and cause excessive tension in the back or shoulders. By sitting back in your seat whilst driving, in a relaxed and comfortable position, you will minimise steering control issues and reduce the risk of fatigue.<\/p>\n Steering for your driving test<\/strong><\/p>\n On your driving test your examiner will be looking at the accuracy of your steering and how smoothly you steer, not at your steering style. He\/She simply wants to see accurate, safe and smooth steering and that you are in full control at all times.<\/p>\n Look where you want to go<\/strong><\/p>\n Before you can steer effectively your brain needs to receive the correct information from your eyes, which enables your brain to send the correct information to your arms. Therefore not pointing your eyes in the appropriate direction, will mean that your eyes are sending the wrong information to your brain. The basic rule is that you will be drawn towards whatever you look at. As such, if you are looking at an obstacle, there is a very good chance that you will hit it.<\/p>\n A good example of this is the fairground ‘Dodgems’, we have probably all driven them at some stage or another. The more adventurous will remember that when they wanted to smash into one of their mates they focused on that car. The least adventurous will remember that if they did not want to smash into anybody they were\u00a0 constantly scanning for and looking at gaps to steer into.<\/p>\n Constantly moving your eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n While steering through a narrow gap, it is essential that you look well ahead and point the car at the clear space.\u00a0 When approaching the tight gap if you are looking ahead early enough, you will always steer on the correct course, there is no need to look at the obstructions!<\/strong><\/p>\n It is just as important to keep a close eye on what is going on behind you as it is in front. By doing so, it will not only make it easier to spot any potential hazards early, it will also help you to maintain a good road position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Steering a vehicle safely and accurately is obviously an essential skill that must be mastered by all drivers very early on in their driving career. Steering style Although there is a great deal of discussion about what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ when it comes to steering. The plain and simple facts are – … Continue reading “Steering Made Easy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-driving","tag-safer-driving","tag-steering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.birchingtonschoolofmotoring.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}