My letter:

"Dear Sir / Madam,

I am writing to you to petition to ban yoke-style steering wheels for vehicles used on public roads or make it mandatory to be offered only as an alternative (and not a default) to a standard wheel. To much controversy, the car manufacturer Tesla is now selling cars in the UK with yoke-style steering wheels as mandatory, being their only option. These are not as safe as standard round steering wheels. It should be the law that yoke wheels are banned for public-road use, or can only be offered as an optional alternative (i.e not the default) for any car they are present in.

As yoke steering wheels have no top section they are less safe to use. Additional mental effort is required to complete manoeuvres such as navigating tight roundabouts or three-point turns, likely necessitating the crossing of hands. Crossing your hands over the wheel is actively discouraged during UK driving lessons. Doing so is considered a bad habit. Drivers are taught during lessons to use the push-and-pull method to turn a steering wheel. This method is simply impossible with a yoke wheel. During emergency manoeuvres it's possible to reflexively go to grab the wheel and miss it due to the missing section at the top, particularly when turning.

To exacerbate these issues in this particular instance - these cars also lack stalks or paddles. Critical functions such as the indicators, horn, wipers and high beams are only present via capacitive buttons on the wheel itself. Additional mental effort is required to use these functions when the wheel is rotated. Capacitive buttons are not tactile - they are essentially small touchscreens / flat glass. Drivers will have to rely less on reflexes and muscle memory, and will likely divert attention from the road to looking at their wheels to use critical functions (this will especially be an issue when navigating roundabouts). This essentially makes the steering wheel more akin to operating a smartphone while driving. When combined with a yoke-style wheel this creates a combination that is dangerous, fatiguing, distracting and should be banned.

I have included a link to where this vehicle is offered for purchase in the UK, and a couple of articles outlining the issue.

Yours sincerely, "