Case scenarios:

• A driver sustains multiple fractures of the forearms and wrists driving her car with both hands over the airbag cover in a collision.
• Two MN state troopers sustained fractured thumbs while resting their thumbs over the center airbag cover
• A wedding ring of a female's left hand causes a large facial laceration just above the left eye while driving her vehicle with the left hand on top of the wheel.

Think back to when you took drivers education in high school.

• Did the instructor teach you to hold the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions?
• Did he teach you to use the hand over hand method for turning?
• Do you steer your vehicle with one hand on top of the wheel?

Back to the Basics?
Every car, SUV and light duty truck must come equipped with a driver and passenger airbag (see www.safercars.org). They are designed by engineers to save both the unbelted and the belted occupant. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (www.highwaysafety.org) reports nearly 18,000 lives have been saved from airbags. Maximum effectiveness from the supplemental restraint airbag is accomplished by wearing your seatbelt. Seatbelts properly position the body during precrash braking, resulting in proper body position for airbag deployment.

Unbelted occupants are much more at risk from a deploying airbag injury. If a driver brakes a vehicle before it crashes, unbelted occupants in the front seat are likely to continue to move forward, closer to the airbag when it deploys. If the crash is complicated, with minor impacts before the airbag is deployed by a more significant impact, the same thing may happen. It is not suprizing that most airbag related fatalities were unbelted occupants and children. Airbags deploy at 100-200 mph in fractions of a second. Airbags are lubricated with cornstarch or talc powder. Wearing your seatbelt allows you to ride out the deploying forces of the supplemental airbag. Airbags do cause some injuries; however, a majority of the injuries are primarily minor injuries to the face, arms and the hands.

How to Hold the Steering Wheel
Several years ago, I took a performance driving class with professional driving instructors. Instructors were teaching law enforcement officers to drive their patrol vehicles with their hands at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions, not the 10 and 2. My thumbs were not to be locked inside the wheel, but rather kept on the outer ring of the wheel. While driving the vehicle around the driving course, I was instructed to smoothly shuffle steer (use the push-pull technique) the vehicle and not to do the hand over hand whenever possible.