Driving with one hand on the wheel?

[PassingStranger]

Somebody that I'm regularly a front seat passenger of drives with one hand on the wheel sometimes.

AIBU to keep mentioning it. They assume me all is fine and we haven't had an accident yet?

It makes me a little uncomfortable though.
They aren't doing anything else with the other hand, they just feel they don't always need both hands.
AiBU.

All joking aside, I did once see a woman driving to work one morning, putting on her lipstick while holding a mirror up and having a facetime conversation on her phone on the windscreen!

Unfortunately for her, a police van went past her on the other side of the road and the last I saw of it, it was turning round a roundabout to head back in her direction!

It's not your place to comment. If you don't like it, get the bus

I drive mostly with one hand on the wheel and you'd be walking by now

If it makes you feel unsafe or nervous, don't get into the car with that person ever again!!

My daughter only has one hand. She is perfectly fine to drive, as checked by an official tester and her driving examiner. She passed with only two minors first time.

I steer with my knee whilst eating my McDonald’s! (Joke)

I understand, if the History Books are anything to go by, that Horatio Nelson drove his carriage in a similar manner - and, AND, he only had ONE eye!

you dont need 2 hands. quite frankly you should be more concerned if someone does always have both hands as they're not a confident/comfortable driver.

I've been driven be people who drive for loooong distances with both hands at the bottom of the steering wheel. I no longer travel long distance with them as I am a firm believer in ten-to-ten-past. It's so easy to fall asleep in a relaxed position.
If you don't like the driving style, drive yourself.

I only have 2 hands on the wheel when I actually need them for turning, or whatever - I assumed most people gradually progress to this after passing their test and becoming more competent drivers. Didn’t realise there were people out there who stick to 10 to 2 forever.

i'm part of a community of drivers, some of whom do race as a hobby (one who does it professionally) and its a standing joke that passengers should be more concerned if a competent/experienced driver has both hands on the wheel as it means they're anticipating need more minute control of the car rather than driving in a relaxed fashion... think about it.

They recommend quarter to/quarter past these days so your hands aren't injured if the airbag goes off.

If you kept mentioning that I only had one hand on the wheel I'd slap you with the other one.

I'm joking obviously, don't condone violence, but give it a rest OP. Do you drive yourself?

Driving instructor here. So long as you are fully in control of the car you’re ok to do this. But you need to think about being fully in control, if you hit a pothole for example will the wheel be under your control still? How about at higher speeds?

Back in the day I was taught ten to two with feeding the wheel, something that takes you half an hour to turn a corner. Occasionally I’ll inherit a student from an ageing instructor and they feel great relief that they don’t need to do it anymore! The old way was to have contact with the wheel as much as possible, but with car tech being what it is now (who now doesn’t have power steering?) it’s changed, it’s literally about being in control and that is it.

I have a knob on my steering wheel and always drive with one hand.

That's a fair point@bozzabollix there was little or no power steering in cars when I started driving.

I pretty much never have two hands on the wheel unless I'm really concentrating on unfamiliar roads, or I'm doing a manouevre.

This.
with bells on.

I don’t think you’re unreasonable- driving with one hand on the steering wheel is fine right up to the minute you have to take quick avoiding action - obviously both hands already there gives you a better chance to stabilise the car

I do a bit of both, more out of habit than a conscious decision

This.

I’m guilty of this. I don’t mind being reminded. It’s a bad habit.

As a driving instructor, can you quote rule #160 of the highway code ?

You would have also failed your test if you drive considerably over the speed limit. Unless you are emergency services, speeding is way more unreasonable than driving with one had on the wheel

And some studies have found that it doesn’t.

Hand-held phones and other myths about distraction

It has been argued that talking on a phone is no different to talking to a passenger. However, research has found drivers talking to passengers are less at risk than drivers on phones; it is theorised by researchers that conversations with passengers are modulated because both the driver and passengers can see what is happening on the road [5].

https://www.brake.org.uk/get-involved/take-action/mybrake/knowledge-centre/mobile-phone-use

[5] Gaspar, J. et al (2014), Providing views of the driving scene to driver conversation partners mitigates cell-phone-related distraction

I grip the steering wheel in both hands within an inch of it's life and drive everywhere in first gear so I never, ever have to take my hands off the wheel.
In case I have a blow out. 😋

There's times you need to take a hand off the wheel to change gear, to operate internal systems like windows and heaters, or put your rearview mirror in the anti glare position when some twunt behind you has headlights bright enough to see outer space.

You should be able to control the car with one hand competently for at least short periods of time because there's times you need to for other safety concerns. Most manual drivers move their left hand to the gearstick when they anticipate a gear change.

But yeah if my driving was repeatedly criticised then you wouldn't be getting a lift any longer 🤷🏼‍♀️