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Was taught by an AA driving instructor that I need to do pull-push steering technique and not hand over hand as it's safer. But I've honestly never seen anyone drive like that. And after quick internet research, it seems that according to popular opinion the pull-push technique is out-dated and in some case dangerous. Is this true?

Hi there, This is a reply from our AA Driving School.
Pull-push steering is considered to be the safest steering method currently. It has arrived here (NZ) as the preferred training method from the UK where it has been considered to be ‘best practice’ for a very long time.
Where it is argued to be safer is that there is less / no cross-over of the hands when making a turn and therefore if the air-bag is deployed in a crash situation you are less likely to have your arms / hands in the path of the activating airbag release.

On a quick internet search there does appear to be a couple of UK news stories where the writer is querying / challenging whether this is the best method describing it as ‘unnatural’ in one case and ‘outdated’ in another.

Traditionally in New Zealand previous generations have been taught by our parents to use the hand over hand method of steering, but more recently here, with the perceived safety gains during air bag deployment professional driving instructors here have recommended the preferred UK vision of the Pull-Push method.

In the New Zealand Road Code (at this link)
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadcode/driving-skill-syllabus/lesson-4
states ‘Use an appropriate steering method – either push-pull or hand-over-hand’ so either method is acceptable for the New Zealand Driving test.