Human feet always sort of confused me. You’d think that, evolutionarily, we’d have adapted to have feet with bony plates or something on their soles, instead of the relatively tender skin we do have. Bare feet seem too delicate for the sort of demands we make of them! Plus, mine always seem to be cold. I suppose that the relative tenderness of human foot soles drove us to develop shoes, and from there more advanced leatherwork and lacing and pumps and innersoles and all that, and from there it’s a short leap to Crocs, then canoes and cars and spacecraft. So, with images of bare feet now in your mind, I’d like to ask you: How do you feel about driving with bare feet?
Interestingly, lots of people seem to think that driving barefoot is illegal. It’s not. There are no laws in any state in America that says driving barefoot is illegal. That doesn’t mean it’s always a great idea, but I generally find the reasons given why barefoot driving is dangerous to be pretty lame; they tend to note that your feet could slip off the pedals, or the pedals may be hot, or that the amount of braking pressure needed will be greater for bare feet.
The problem with all these reasons is that they all seem to be pretty easy to debunk, or at least mitigate. I think there are some shoes that are as likely to slip off a pedal, I’ve yet to encounter blazing hot pedals (they’re always in the shade!), and I think the braking pressure is the same, it’s just perhaps more focused on the ball of your foot instead of being distributed over the whole sole.
I think there are some kinds of shoes – big wooden clogs or stiff leather dress shoes with slippery soles, or flip-flops, for example – that are actually worse for control in a car than bare feet. I don’t drive barefoot often, but I have, sometimes, on summer days where my shoes were soaking wet or something, and there’s an undeniable pleasant sensation about it, I think.
I like the feel of the textures of the rubber pedal cover on my foot, and I think you can get a lot more sensitive in your throttle control barefoot. Sometimes barefoot driving can give you a stronger connection with the car, as you can feel the engine vibrations through the clutch, for example, or tell if your brake rotors are worn on the brake. I’m sure in a wreck it could be worse, and the potential for injury or toe-stubbings is greater, but I don’t know if I buy the idea that barefoot driving actually impairs anything.
What do you think? Is barefoot driving just something for foot fetishists like Quentin Tarantino or is it just something we can all enjoy, happily and safely? Or is it a dangerous, disgusting perversion? You should all discuss and argue about it in the comments, right?
I drove barefoot once ( it was the best way to get my feet heated by the engine )… an Estafette ( that’s Renault Hi-boy or Petit-panel apparenly for the Western side of he Pond ).
The engine is tucked between the driver and the passenger, so I was putting my feet on the engine cover to warm them when I didn’t need to use a pedal.
Now the reason why : I was bivouacing in the Pyrénées with teens and we ended up under a massive hailstorm during the night, the planned climbing was not possible the next morning ( it was still raining ) so we had to go back to camp… but all the small water gullets from the preivous day were now waist deep raging torrents of cold water ( parse : icy cold, since many came from the glacier above ). walking a few hours in cold water filled mountain shoes was not fun, especially as when the water was starting to reach a non chilling temperature I had to jump again in the water to cross yet another torrent [ thus resetting the water in the shoes to icy level ] )
I had 15ish km to drive on a small mountain road, mostly going up, so the only important pedal was the right one. ( it’s not as if the Estafette was going fast, and if you stopped hitting said pedal it stopped in a matter of few meters, and going above second gear was not an option, so once settled there you could forget the clutch pedal )
At the risk of sounding terrible, I have those deep Rolls-Royce lambswool floor mats in my MINI Cooper Goodwood and love to drive barefoot. My feet feel like they are getting a warm hug every time they touch them. I take my shoes off when I get in.
I think the biggest reason against it is more about what you might have tracked into your car with your shoes before going barefoot. Assuming you haven’t cleaned in there for a bit.
I used to do a job that had me on my feet for a lot of the day and sometimes on the way home, an hour drive, my feet were screaming to get some air, so yeah, I did it a lot at the time. It was wonderful.
No thanks, it hurts my clutch foot enough wearing shoes and driving in traffic.
I too was told it was illegal when I started driving. I think it is one of those things like driving with the dome light on that our parents told us was illegal because they didn’t want us doing it. I could see maybe the gas getting hot in older cars where the throttle linkage my extend into the engine bay enough to conduct heat and the pedal doesn’t have a rubber pad… but even that is a stretch.
So for driving barefoot, I agree with everything you’ve said haha. It feels weird but nice and takes a second to figure out pedal pressures, but otherwise is a fun experience I don’t do often.
I like driving barefoot. I’ve been pulled over barefoot and had to drop my shoes out the door and step into them in front of a cop before and they didn’t even comment on it.
I’m OK with barefoot in the summer if its not scorching hot inside the car. If you must wear shoes while driving, can we talk about the best choice? Artyon Senna’s loafers
Similar to Torch, I occasionally drive barefoot post beach day with the kids, but not often. The floor of the car is usually mildly gross, but really not actually grosser than walking on grass or sand–it is just dirt.
Also, gotta disagree with the opening bit about how weird it is that feet are so tender. Mine are, but that is just because I wear shoes and don’t develop any callouses. As a kid, my siblings and I ran around barefoot most of the summer. By end of the summer I could run on a gravel road barefoot without paid. I’m not saying we all need to go full hobbit and have a shoeless society, just that the body seems to adapt to what we do with it.
I dunno, it just feels gross. But to each their own. I’m not here to judge.
Barefoot driving saved my life.
About 25 years ago I was driving a big Mercedes 508 van which had a standing gas pedal. At one point the return spring broke, so the pedal wouldn’t come up and stayed floored. We were going full speed ahead (which was 82 km/h as it was a speed-limited ex rental).
Luckily I was barefoot so I could curl by toes over the pedal and pull it up to slow down.
We were nearly at home so I decided to continue, with my right foot continuously on the gas pedal and the left foot doing the braking and clutching. So brake with the left foot to slow down, quickly clutch to change gears and then back to the brake.
ok ok, I suppose with shoes I would also have it made to a safe stop, just much noisier as the engine would be full revs continuously. And it would be more difficult to drive the last kilometers home.
My dad had a 1969 cabover International grain truck and the return spring broke. His fix at the grain mill was amazing. He tied a piece of twine to the throttle on the carb and ran it up through an access hatch. He would pull the twine to decelerate. Made it back home to where he could fix it properly.
I’m a Kiwi and often drive barefoot in the warmer months or on a road trip. I always have shoes to put on when I get out, but driving barefoot is fine. It’s not unusual to see peeps in NZ walking barefoot on sidewalks and in shops, because it’s much cleaner here than say London. Walking barefoot often surprises tourists in NZ, but we think nothing of it.
Using the pedals while driving a car is much less demanding barefoot than walking or running barefoot. It’s just not an issue unless your feet are super weak. Most (half of?) people don’t wear shoes in the house, so at least those people should have sufficient foot strength to walk barefoot and drive barefoot.
It’s just not right.
The defining factor is not the pedal, but the surface underneath. Carpeting is great for barefooting, while ribbed plastic weather resistant surfaces are not. Ribs are not for pleasure.
I learned to drive barefoot and I continue to drive barefoot whenever possible. If I’m wearing any non-lace up shoes, they come off and my piggies are on the pedals. The best is in my MR2 because there is a little riser box under the pedals with skateboard grip tape on it, so I get an exfoliation treatment while I drive!
As a proud barefoot driver, when you’re cruising on a hot day in an old car without AC, it just feels right. I agree flip flops are worse; If I’m wearing them I’ll slip them off and tuck them under my seat. I have no idea how the urban myth about illegal barefoot driving came about, but I’ve had several people repeat it to me.
Dress for the crash.
I swear to bog, Ms Peters specifically and emphatically told us it was illegal to drive barefoot in Virginia. Being that it’s a commonwealth, I never even thought of questioning this ‘fact’.
Aw, damn: now it won’t be nearly as fun because I know it’s not illicit 🙁
I wear water/surf shoes. Comfortable, ventilated and I don’t have to put on shoes to fill the car or go into the service center.
This reminds me of a post here yesterday.
When Usain Bolt became the world’s fastest man, Nike asked him what car he wanted. He chose an E92 M3 which he proceeded to drive around Jamaica at high speed. Shortly after, he rolled the car several times and luckily walked away.
When Bolt crashed the car gifted to him by Nike, he was driving barefoot!
Imagine if the world’s fastest feet were injured, the Insurance claim would be worth like $100m, and believe me the insurance company would have had serious issues with Bolt’s choice to drive barefoot.
Most of our feet are worthless though, so barefoot no problem.
How much improvement would a pair of lightweight trainers/running shoes help your feet in crash? I’d guess negligible, even if the engine was shoved through the footwell (which modern cars are designed not to do). And why focus on feet when you could worry about your unprotected ankles, lower legs, knees, and upper legs?
Doesn’t really matter if shoes would have protected his feet. What would matter to the insurer is that he wasn’t wearing them, so they would have a reason to deny if his feet were injured.
The focus is on feet of course because they are typically covered.
Unless you are talking about hard-toed safety shoes, which are built to a standard and aren’t required for most driving outside workplace environments, shoes aren’t designed for impact protection. There’s nothing an insurer could point to justify a stance that shoes as a clothing category prevent foot injury in a car crash. I mean, I have some shoes that are no more protective than socks (Feelmax brand shoes and lightweight flip flops).
Another product that wasn’t built to a standard was bicycle hairnet helmets that some cyclists were still using as late as the ’80s. Testing showed they provide useless protection against head impacts. No standards=no justifiable reason to say shoes provide protection in a car crash.
Umm I don’t know where you’re getting your info from….
The IIHS crash tested 2,847 new shoe designs last year for frontal and side impact, rollover, and moderate overlap, with 83% recieving a 4 star or better rating when averaged across all categories.
Clarks, famously preferred by Jamaicans, were a standout in the rollover and moderate overlap categories, scoring a perfect 5 stars in each. Testers dubbed them “the Cybertruck of footwear.”
Feelmax didn’t fare so well, with an 86% likelyhood of severed feet in most collision situations. Testers commented that it woul be outright reckless to drive with such footwear, and that bare feet were actually safer.
That’s a slam dunk for the insurance company.
Come to think of it, I should try using my Feelmax Niesas as driving shoes. Should have great sensitivity for heel-toe, whereas I often don’t have my right foot in the right part of the pedals in normal shoes because I can’t feel the pedal. They look like this:
https://www.southeastclimbing.com/running-life/feelmax-niesa-shoe-review.html
To be honest, I actually wear my 2005 Clarks loafers on the rare occasion that I drive autoslalom, or when driving for fun. The soles are thin and they give great feel. Thin shoes are definitely the way to go for that.
On the street I’m wearing Timberland Pro work boots, because I’m generally going to or from work. I can heel-toe in them just fine, but it did take a little bit to calibrate myself because there’s obviously not much feel there.
I actually use the right side of my foot rather than my heel, so the wide sole can actually make things easier.
I have really wide size 12s, but my car’s pedal spacing is a bit too wide to reliably do the side-of-foot method. I have to “float” my foot up highish on the brake to do true heel-toe because otherwise my shoe’s heel hits the floor/tunnel before the gas pedal. I’m not good at floating the foot to just the right place, so I should try the Feelmaxes or barefoot.
I have intended to yank the gas pedal sideways closer to the brake pedal but haven’t gotten around to it because I would want to do it precisely and not accidently break something.
Putting a pedal cover on the gas pedal would bring things closer together without having to modify anything, but the low profile shoes will definitely make things easier.
Whoo boy, this seems to have really motivated the comments section. 4 pages of comments and counting?
For what it’s worth, I have no specific objection to barefoot driving (for many of the reasons Jason notes) and have done so on occasion (usually when in thongs/flip flops), but for whatever reason it does always feel just a little bit wrong. I have no idea why.
I have had to wear heavy, steel toed boots my entire adult working life, so outside of work I almost exclusively wear thongs (flippity floppities for those playing in the US). Driving with something that can get caught up or fall off easily isn’t safe, so I have spent a huge portion of my life driving barefoot.
I’m unsure as to why people from North America are always up in arms about this concept.
I prefer strap on sandals rather than flip flops, but otherwise this applies to me as well. It’s nice to have your feet breathe on the drive home after 10 hours being stuffed in steel toe boots.
As a North American, so am I.
I’m here for it. After a day at the beach, or on the boat. Also very long road trips longer than 4 hours feels amazing.
I grew up in the early 1980’s and both of my parents told me in all seriousness that it was against the law to drive barefoot. They also told me that turning on the dome lights at night was illegal. People tell their kids all kids of weird stuff that they end up taking at face value. My kids probably believe all kinds of messed up things I told them as jokes!