Driving With Shoes Almost Caused an Accident

I have no sensible explanation for how I happened to be wearing shoes while driving from a Florida airport. The last five years I have driven barefoot except for a couple times including earlier this week.

As I was leaving the freeway, there was a back up of traffic on the exit ramp. I applied the brakes and they seemed to be failing. A moment of panic set in until I hear the engine of my car revving and I realized I was applying the brake and the gas pedal at the same time. Damn shoe was causing it. Something that would 100% not have happened if I had been driving barefoot.

Message received. Never, ever will I drive wearing shoes again.

 

I have had friends ask me why I drive barefoot and I tell them that you can feel the pedals better and with shoes or flip flops you really can feel the pedals that good. And I know of a girl the got in a accident wearing flip flops . The flip flop got stuck between the floor and the pedals and by the time she got her foot lose she hit a car . Her cal was damaged real bad and the car she hit was really bad. Now she drives barefoot now and she even said if she was barefoot the accident would have never happened. Now with her kids that are driving she tells them to drive barefoot not in flip flops and like I tell her and everybody else driving barefoot is great the reaction time is quicker and you feel the pedals better it’s like when you grab something with your hand and then you put on gloves and it’s a little harder to grab what ever you are trying to grab .

 

Yes barefoot driving is better, simulator racers often drive without shoes and racing driver boots are very thin soled. The ridiculous thing is here in the UK organisations like the RAC say you shouldn’t drive barefoot as you don’t have the same force on the pedals - of course it feels different at first but once you’re used to it there’s no difference in force and you can modulate the pedals better

 

I went in to Co-Op this morning to get some milk and a couple of other things. The lady on the till asked if I needed a bag and I said no the car is only over the road - she’d noticed my feet and asked if I knew it was illegal to drive barefoot…I replied it isn’t but she said her friend got stopped by the police for having a brake light out and was asked to get out of the car, she was barefoot and the officer issued a ticket for not being in proper control of the vehicle. She got 3 points and a £60 fine. It’s like saying you have to wear gloves and if you don’t you’re not in control of the car, everyone would say that’s stupid.

On the flip side I’ve seen an officer pull over a truck driver who turned out to be barefoot but he didn’t get a ticket for that but some will be narrow minded so it’s worth being aware..

It might be worth keeping a pair of shoes in the car to put on if stopped.