I filmed this on the way back from lunch with Nana and Papa:
Comment: What is Nana hiding? There must be some secret to the closing-driving!?
I filmed this on the way back from lunch with Nana and Papa:
Comment: What is Nana hiding? There must be some secret to the closing-driving!?
LOL that is so funny. Hmm, I’ll have to check to see how my grandmas drive. I’m not in the car too often with them. How do her knees not hit something that close though? I can only put my seat so close before it impedes my ability to brake…
Oh Link! Your Nana really loves you to let you tease her like that!
She really is a good sport!
My theory for those grandmas and grandpas is that it’s a NASCAR thing. It goes back to their early years when they ran moonshine at night. Since it was so dark, they had to site close to the windshield to be able to get a better look at the dirt roads. It’s well known that alot of early racers ran moonshine with their fast cars. Look at any NASCAR driver today and you’ll see they are sitting right up on the steering wheel, just like grandmas and grandpas. It racing…….except they are going alot slower now.
I am a Nana. I sit with the seat in the position that will allow my feet to reach the pedals. Doesn’t everyone?
I think it is just short people. Short people have to sit close so they can really reach the peddles. I never sit close to the steering wheel, but my mom and sister do because they are short.
I agree with Teresa, VERY true! Both of you have attained a whole new level of awesomeness for being promoted by Mr. Whitacre!
I tweeted this to you guys, but I wanted to make sure you saw it. Eric Whitacre is one of the, if not THE, most popular choral composer of the 21st Century. He posted the Band Rap commercial on his blog in the post “The Coolest People on Earth.” For people like Tess Gray, Anna, and I, (even Jordan, who posted a video to be in his “virtual choir”) you have been promoted to awesome. Or at least now it’s been confirmed.
http://ericwhitacre.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/the-coolest-people-on-earth/
Oh my, it’s Nana! I’ve never seen her before. So nice to meet her. And always a pleasure to see Papa. Not sure about the driving thing, though.
I think it’s just women, because me and my mama both do that and my boyfriend and my dad make fun of us all the time about it. We just need to be able to reach the pedals!
My grandma did that, too…the one that drove at all, that is. The other one just sat in the passenger seat and pretended to have her own break pedal every time Grandpa did something she didn’t like! It was hilarious!
Nana is so gracious and patient! I adore that woman!
Yay for nana!
I think it’s got to be a combination of their legs getting shorter, so to reach the pedals, they have to move closer and a security thing. Cos new/inexperienced drivers tend to sit closer to the wheel as well. I’m not sure whether it does give you any better control over the wheel, but it seems to feel that way. I just find it kills your ankles on long journeys if you sit too far forward.
You have a sweet Nana but you better show her the jpizzle1122 microwave and airbag episode. That oven was toast after it blew. Nana would get pretty messed up with just a small collision. She may be comfortable but it’s not worth getting needlessly injured after a minor love tap in heavy stop and go traffic.
IT is not just grandmas,it’s women in general because my mum drives like that. I even had to make fun of her whilst on the dodgems one time.
I don’t really have a theory on this, although I would tend to agree with BananaAnna about having more control over the vehicle by sitting close to the wheel.
But anyway, I just wanted to comment and say that I started chuckling as soon as you asked the question “Why do grandma’s sit so close to the steering wheel?” My grandma does the same thing.
She’s adorable! I don’t know why they sit so close, but I had to comment about my husband’s grandma. Everybody called her Grandma Mac and she hardly reached 4’11″ – tiny little thing! She drove a 1956 Buick Special, two-toned green, monster of a machine, quite tank-like, disguised as a car. She called it Patrick. In order to drive Patrick, she had to sit on a pillow; however, she still wasn’t tall enough to see over the steering wheel. So…she looked *through* the steering wheel. It was not unusual to see this huge car driving down the road in rural New York State with what looked like no driver. But if you looked closely enough, you could spot her little gray head framed by the top of the steering wheel.
My Grandma would do the SAME thing when she was still alive and drivin’! I asked her about it one time and she said the same thing as your Nana, Link. “It’s comfortable.” Personally, I think it’s because they might find the close position more secure, kind of like they have more control over the vehicle.
Aww,? Nana’s such a good sport! And Papa’s rockin the John Deere cap, LOVE it! Grandmas DO sit close to the steering wheel! I think it’s cause as they age, they get shorter and feel the need to be closer to the pedals.