That reminds me of the article in the June 2006 issue of Knives Illustrated magazine about the Osborne Safety lanyard. Knifemaker Warren Osborne was training for a cutting competition, using a rear lanyard, when the knife slipped out of his hand, and nearly severed a forearm muscle. His Safety Lanyard, as he calls it, attaches through a hole near the front of the handle, like a hollow handle pin, or in the ricasso. The loop is short, and twisted to tighten the grip. If the hand slips, the knife stays put. He said that it's not really a new idea, as old night sticks and billy clubs had forward lanyards for easy access.

I have lanyards on almost everything. The one on my fixed blades is usually the "hook over the thumb" type. Not only does it give me a much better grip on the knife, it is impossible for my hand to slip onto the blade.

Almost nothing comes out of my pocket that does not already have a lanyard or get immediatly clipped to one. When on the move, it is just too easy to drop something and when it is gone....it is gone!!

What you do is put the loop around your THUMB, then pass it around the BACK of your hand and then you adjust the length by twisting the lanyard until you can hold the knife with whatever number of fingers you need...
The Becker handles work VERY well with a two finger grip in this way...
You can stop the lanyard from snagging, by having the two ends threaded over a tight fitting rubber washer and then a knot placed at each end at the correct distance... You do NOT knot the ends together... When you carry it, push the washer all the way to the handle so that you have two loose ends hanging from the knife... They will not snag on everything... When you go to use the knife, slide the washer all the way to end end where it is stopped by the knots, and use it as a lanyard...
A lanyard is also useful for Scandinavian style sheaths that have only the very end of the grip exposed, so that you can get the knife out of the sheath easier...