Windscreen lickers

corktina

Have you seen any? Usally women with the seat so far forward their elbows are completely bent and their face and chest inches from the steering wheel, often lent forward in the seat and very tense looking. I wonder do they know that in an accident the air bag would do serious damage to them, them being so close to it. Whats more, I don't think they can properley steer the car like that.

Is it a manufacturing problem perhaps that a "vertically challenged" person can't reach the pedals unless they sit like this?

cabrwab

I've seen them and no its the persons personal choice to sit like an idiot.

My OH is 5ft tall and can sit like a normal person in a car through properly adjusting the seat and steering wheel.

Im sure some cars don't have all the adjustments available but most do.
For examples the toyota avensis and corrolla didn't have very good height adjustments on the seat.

brownacid

Window lickers are something completely different from what you described!

peasant

not windscreen lickers ..steering wheel biters.

and yes they're 99% female

-Corkie-

I see plenty of them further west of Duhallow Corktina....:P

Owen

There's 3 problems. Being that far forward, wing mirrors are pretty much useless and will have a much larger blind spot than normal. An airbag deployment will hurt and will probably be ineffective, but worse again is that when you're that close, you've no leverage in your arms, meaning emergency moves aren't going to be possible.

And yes, window lickers are something completely different!!

corktina

windSCREEN lickers :rolleyes:

I thought it may be a problem with the pedals being too far away for some people but apparently not. Don't people realise the airbag would nearly take their head off at that range?
SARASOn...you would mean ke**ymen would you?;)

L1011

My mother drives like this. I've told her she'll likely have her ribcage shattered by the airbag if it goes off, but she still does.

bmstuff

Seen a few, women only, I think they believe there is a pair of beautiful red shoes on sale behind the glass or something...

alwaysadub

My sister drives like this. She's only 4ft something, and every car she's owned she's nearly sitting on the steering wheel. Fair enough in her 1st car she didn't have any choice as there were no steering wheel or seat height adjustments but she's driving a new car now which presumably has them. Told her it's dangerous, but she's gotten into the habit of it now, and won't listen.
I'm quite small myself, but i sit as far back as possible and as comfortable as i can.

everyday taxi

peasant wrote: »

not windscreen lickers ..steering wheel biters.

and yes they're 99% female

Your been unfair.








































99.99

-Corkie-

corktina wrote: »

windSCREEN lickers :rolleyes:

I thought it may be a problem with the pedals being too far away for some people but apparently not. Don't people realise the airbag would nearly take their head off at that range?
SARASOn...you would mean ke**ymen would you?;)

Ke**ywomen... Nah I see loads of middle aged women doing it in Rockchapel/Newmarket area.

I hope we are not being sexist here..

rameire

how about the people who drive by looking through the steering wheel.

ive often wondered would the people die or be horribly disfigured by riding the steering wheels.

RandomAccess

Yeah, I've seen a lot of them.
The male equivalent is those van drivers with their arms on top of the wheel and fingers joined. Swerving is not an option for them.

-Corkie-

RandomAccess wrote: »

Yeah, I've seen a lot of them.
The male equivalent is those van drivers with their arms on top of the wheel and fingers joined. Swerving is not an option for them.

Ya spot on or boy racers that sit sideways in the drivers seat..:D

flyingsnail

SARASON wrote: »

Ya spot on or boy racers that sit sideways in the drivers seat..:D

ya, I could never understand why they do that.

Eric Cartman

its always women, an uterly unsafe and useless way of driving, i dont know why they do it, I have as much a problem with that as the boy racer "gangsta lean" dont understand that either

meathstevie

It's a special feature that's only available on micras, puntos, fiestas and corsas it also comes with two spungy bits in the steering wheel that reward all the squeezing with a few drops of water....Before you can avail of the feature you have to sign a contract that you'll never ever drive a distance of 40 miles in under 2.5 hours.

CR 7

SARASON wrote: »

Ya spot on or boy racers that sit sideways in the drivers seat..:D

That makes no sense, they lean against the side window, with their heads resting on their hands, elbow on armrest.

Maybe they think it makes them look pensive?

NewApproach

Tut tut at all the sexism on this thread

Eric Cartman

meathstevie wrote: »

It's a special feature that's only available on micras, puntos, fiestas and corsas it also comes with two spungy bits in the steering wheel that reward all the squeezing with a few drops of water....Before you can avail of the feature you have to sign a contract that you'll never ever drive a distance of 40 miles in under 2.5 hours.

ahh thats coupled with the advanced steering pack that keeps the car on the right hand lane of a motorway when it goes below 60 km.h

bmw535d

its always people who do the hand shuffle crap you have to do on your driving test. they are terrified of driving in general and everyone going over 40mph is a MANIAC.

CR 7

NewApproach wrote: »

Tut tut at all the sexism on this thread

It's not sexism. The same way saying someone is black, or french, or white, isn't racism.

flyingsnail

NewApproach wrote: »

Tut tut at all the sexism on this thread

I don't think its sexist, the truth is I have only ever seen women doing it.

meathstevie

bmw535d wrote: »

its always people who do the hand shuffle crap you have to do on your driving test. they are terrified of driving in general and everyone going over 40mph is a MANIAC.

I think you're referring to the push pull method of steering, when that's done properly it's a great way of controlling a steering wheel ( just for a test try to pull the wheel on a bend next time you're doing a tight corner instead of what you usually do, you'll be surprised how much more in control you'll feel ). Problem is that most people aren't trained further than the hand positioning that comes with it and are not instructed on proper cornering methods, gear use etc etc

bmw535d

meathstevie wrote: »

I think you're referring to the push pull method of steering, when that's done properly it's a great way of controlling a steering wheel ( just for a test try to pull the wheel on a bend next time you're doing a tight corner instead of what you usually do, you'll be surprised how much more in control you'll feel ). Problem is that most people aren't trained further than the hand positioning that comes with it and are not instructed on proper cornering methods, gear use etc etc

i was referring to people that shuffle the wheel when parking etc, it takes them ages to turn from full lock to opposite full luck making them look like incompetent drivers as it takes them ages to park. the never use their mirrors either to reverse they just sort of look around them in the direction of the car that isn't going to hit something first sometimes with their hand on their mouth/chest.

corktina

shuffling the hands is the correct thing to do as you always have one hand on the wheel and complete movement from side to side ..i rarely do it though.

Gary ITR

My OH is a tad on the short arse side and she can drive her own car like a normal person but in mine she nearly needs to stretch her legs to get to the pedals and is then on top of the wheel. So it sometimes can be a manufacturing thing.

Although I have seen very tall girls squeeze into tiny spaces, maybe it's a whole 'I'm not fat so I'll push the seat all the way forward' thing

Drummerboy08

brownacid wrote: »

Window lickers are something completely different from what you described!

Completely different, but somehow very closely related most of the time

Victor Meldrew

flyingsnail wrote: »

I don't think its sexist, the truth is I have only ever seen women doing it.

One notable exception is a bloke in a new corrola I see on the way to work. Treats every yield at a roundabout as a stop sign and is incapable of getting out of second gear.

I like to hold on to as much momentum as possible, so this is really annoying. He's only mid 40's to boot...

And, WRT OP, the wife is 5'2" and I'm 5'11" and I could drive our old automatic without adjusting the seats from her position. So it's not a "Short Ar$e" issue

af_thefragile

I drive with the seat fully forward (one a couple of notches back) cuz as you put it, I'm a bit vertically challenged.

Though I don't feel like I'm gnawing on the steering wheel...

shinikins

In our house that way of driving has been dubbed "breastfeeding the wheel", my father has a way with words! I don't think its solely a shortass style of driving, my sister in law drives with the car attached to her tit and she's nearly 6' tall! Around my way the little people tend to drive huge cars, and spend most of their time driving trying to peer over the top of the wheel, while simultaniously tring to reach the pedals with their tiny toes.....

windowlicker

my ears are burning

Owen

SARASON wrote: »

Ke**ywomen... Nah I see loads of middle aged women doing it in Rockchapel/Newmarket area.

+1 My ex was a Duhallow girl, and her, her Mum, her Aunt, her friends were all glued to the steering wheel, and all did the shuffle 2 inches of the wheel at a time between their hands.

I agree both hands on the wheel is the way forward, I drive that way, but my hands are at 3 and 9, not 11 and 1, and I turn the wheel properly, not a bit at a time. Anytime I see someone doing multiple shuffles of the wheel like that, they're usually oblivious to anything else that's going on. The shuffling takes full mental priority!

corktina

shuffling is the correct way to turn the wheels but with your hands in the correct place (9 and 3 or 10 and 2). Shuffling keeps your hands in this optimum position.

-Corkie-

I just came from Mallow and was stuck behind a Ky reg Hyundai Getz doing 40 kph. When I passed him he was on top of the windscreen/steering wheel and was shuffling the wheel from left to right. He wouldnt keep in either for anyone..

Anan1

PaintDoctor wrote: »

agree both hands on the wheel is the way forward, I drive that way, but my hands are at 3 and 9, not 11 and 1, and I turn the wheel properly, not a bit at a time. Anytime I see someone doing multiple shuffles of the wheel like that, they're usually oblivious to anything else that's going on. The shuffling takes full mental priority!

I think it depends on what you're doing. I find shuffling works well most of the time, but it's not really suited to big steering inputs - ie parking or correcting slides.

Voodoomelon

NewApproach wrote: »

Tut tut at all the sexism on this thread

No different from he drives, she dies...

macplaxton

corktina wrote: »

shuffling is the correct way to turn the wheels but with your hands in the correct place (9 and 3 or 10 and 2). Shuffling keeps your hands in this optimum position.

I push pull generally and always have. Never really got into this cross hand muddle or wax on, wax off palming.

9 and 3 is correct for airbags. 10 and 2 is old school and mandatory on an old car with a massive steering wheel.

Anyway, back OT the Mrs is a short in leg and short in arm and sits up at the window. Being lardy and tall I find I have lean in and slide the seat back before I can even get in.

Owen

Anan1 wrote: »

I think it depends on what you're doing. I find shuffling works well most of the time, but it's not really suited to big steering inputs - ie parking or correcting slides.

I think you guys are misinterpreting what I'm saying. I shuffle the steering wheel, but I do it like a normal person. The type of shuffling I was giving out about is the one where people feed 2 inches of the wheel at a time between their hands stopping with each motion, and their arms and shoulders are very animated, and they're so focused on it that every other aspect of driving the car, and the outside world is forgotten about.

R.O.R

Onkle wrote: »

Although I have seen very tall girls squeeze into tiny spaces,

Is that one of your "specialist" video's? :pac:

My Sister drives like this. We briefly shared a car for a few weeks and I had to slide the seat back before I could even get in to the car. She is only 4ft 11, but I'm by no means a giant.

See them all the time on the Motorway. Usually 20km/h under the general speed of the trafic, but thank god they are usually on the inside lane. I do think it's because they can't check the wing mirrors to see if it's safe to pull out, and they are just generally terrified.

dr.fuzzenstein

corktina wrote: »

shuffling is the correct way to turn the wheels but with your hands in the correct place (9 and 3 or 10 and 2). Shuffling keeps your hands in this optimum position.

THAT is the NUMBER ONE thing that boils my nuts about the kind of retarded rubbish that is being taught in Irish "driving schools"!
Shuffling (feeding the wheel) should have gone out the window in 1953, I don't know what kind of mush head would think it is a good idea.
It takes 10 times as long, is very imprecise and in countries with a proper test you'd fail for doing it.
I thought only 76 year old grannies still did that, are they still teaching this sh*t in driving schools?
Here's the *correct* way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16SoOOfftkE&feature=related

_Kaiser_

In my experience the ones sitting on top of the steering wheel are indeed the same ones gripping it white knuckled as if they are afraid the car is going to get away from them. They also take an age to manoeuvre the car as they shuffle the wheel back and forth.

Me I'm only 5'7/8 but I sit back at around the start of the B-Pillar (06 Passat) and can reach all the controls just fine. That said the car does seem to have a rather big blind spot at the A-pillar if you don't have the seat JUST right.

As for steering, maybe an automatic gearbox, power steering and mostly N/M-road driving has made me lazy, but I find it very uncomfortable and awkward to drive with both hands, so (being left handed) I just drive with one and use my right hand as needed (wipers, occasional sharp turn etc).

Gary ITR

R.O.R wrote: »

Is that one of your "specialist" video's? :pac:

It's with the pile I loaned to you




Oh and thanks to whoever told my OH that I said she was a shortarse

djimi

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

As for steering, maybe an automatic gearbox, power steering and mostly N/M-road driving has made me lazy, but I find it very uncomfortable and awkward to drive with both hands, so (being left handed) I just drive with one and use my right hand as needed (wipers, occasional sharp turn etc).

I would have thought that an automatic gearbox would make you more inclined to have both hands on the wheel, not less inclined?

_Kaiser_

djimi wrote: »

I would have thought that an automatic gearbox would make you more inclined to have both hands on the wheel, not less inclined?

Well personally speaking I find I've less control if I'm driving with both hands on the wheel than I do with one.

To be honest I think the "two hands on wheel"/shuffling thing is a hangover from when cars didn't have power steering as I have full control with only the one hand (as demonstrated one day on the M1/M50 roundabout when some idiot on the inside lane decided he was driving the whole way around the roundabout and save for a very quick flick of the wheel on my part, he would've ran into the side of me).

Gary ITR

djimi wrote: »

I would have thought that an automatic gearbox would make you more inclined to have both hands on the wheel, not less inclined?

I find driving auto makes you very relaxed/lazy and more inclined to use armrests

_Kaiser_

Onkle wrote: »

I find driving auto makes you very relaxed/lazy and more inclined to use armrests

I do love my armrests admittedly

The biggest advantage to an auto though IMO (especially if you're just starting off driving) is that it lets you focus on the road and read the situations easier than constantly playing with the gearbox.

dr.fuzzenstein

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

I do love my armrests admittedly

The biggest advantage to an auto though IMO (especially if you're just starting off driving) is that it lets you focus on the road and read the situations easier than constantly playing with the gearbox.

Had a few cars with Auto 'box through the years and it deffo makes you lazy.
But if you're driving manual a lot changing gear just becomes sub conscious till you don't even notice it anymore.
Now have a car with manual box AND armrest I'm getting very lazy about changing gear, overtaking, it's all about the cruising now.
Fit every car with armrests and everyone will just potter about at the same speed too relaxed to do anything silly.
That and 4FM on the radio, perfect for me, inoffensive music for old farts that won't scare you out of your slippers.

D_murph

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Well personally speaking I find I've less control if I'm driving with both hands on the wheel than I do with one.

To be honest I think the "two hands on wheel"/shuffling thing is a hangover from when cars didn't have power steering as I have full control with only the one hand (as demonstrated one day on the M1/M50 roundabout when some idiot on the inside lane decided he was driving the whole way around the roundabout and save for a very quick flick of the wheel on my part, he would've ran into the side of me).

Same here. I definitely have more control and quicker reaction times with just the one hand on the wheel. 12 years now and it has never been a problem and my first car didn't even have power steering. It was hard to park so I used 2 hands for that but only that.

dr.fuzzenstein

This is the only way to steer. Unless you're a 70+ year old granny driving a 1953 Morris Minor.