When it comes to health behind the wheel, having a good posture tends to be one of the last aspects to be considered by drivers and their employers. However, driving ergonomics is an essential part of road safety, as having a bad posture can lead to long-lasting effects that will undoubtedly impact the health and performance of any commercial driver. Therefore, we have gathered six useful and important tips that will help us improve our car ergonomics, which will not only get rid of severe pain in our backs and necks, but that will help us become safer drivers, too.
To begin with, we need to be aware of the distance between our legs and feet, the steering wheel and the pedals. When we sit down, we need to make sure our feet are close enough to reach the pedals without any problem. However, if we are sitting so close to the pedals that the steering wheel sits on our lap, we are too close and might want to move the seat a little bit to the back.
Another aspect to keep in mind when sitting down behind the wheel is the support the seat gives to your thighs. They should be comfortably supported by the seat base, and you need to pay attention to the distance between the edge of the seat and the back of your knees. If they are touching the edge of the seat, you might be too far back, so you may want to readjust the seat and move it forward.
Paying attention to our back while we drive is one of the most important aspects of car ergonomics, as having a seat that forces us to take a bad posture can have very negative effects on our body. When we sit down, we need to make sure our back is well fitted to the backrest in a way that our back, our hips, and our rear end are firmly pressed against the seat. Also, we need to make sure that the seatbelt fits correctly across our chest.
There is a big mistake many drivers tend to make when adjusting the height of their wheel. Depending on our height, some drivers might like to have a lower or higher wheel. However, regardless of our height and personal preference, we should make sure that the wheel doesn’t become an obstacle for our line of sight. Even when it might seem to be irrelevant at first, having the wheel obscuring our sight can lead us to cause a serious accident, which is the last thing we want.
Following these tips on driver ergonomics will ensure that we keep a good posture when behind the wheel, which will help us feel more relaxed and get rid of any pain in our back, neck, and shoulders. Also, car ergonomics will help us become safer drivers, too, as sitting in a car properly will allow us to respond better in case of an accident or unfortunate event.