I was driving in my flip flops the other day and the sole got caught under the brake pedal. Due to the ribbon that goes between the big toes, I barely was able to get the tips of my toes on the pedal to brake in time. I was lucky enough to avoid an accident.
If you drive while wearing flip flops do you ever have this problem? Should I stop doing this?
If you are accustomed to wearing sandals virtually all the time, it is safer than wearing shoes, because your feet will be accustomed in sandals to responding to irregular events. But if you rarely wear sandals, it will be more dangerous than wearing shoes, for exactly the same reaction event reasons.
No.
If we’re nominating threads for a “questions asked and answered in the opening post” award, I’d like to nominate this one.
It is not safe to have any loose items in the driver footwell specifically because of the kind of problem the o.p. experienced. When I took a tactical driving course the instructor noted that back when police routinely carried the solid PR-24 side handle baton it was common to put the baton either under the driver seat or between the driver’s seat and door. The problem with this was that the baton was not secure during driving maneuvers and often shot forward under the brake or accelerator during aggressive braking, which caused a number of notable accidents. Because of this (and some of the negative publicity of oficers using the PR-24 in a non-approved fashion to club suspects in the head or strike suspects in the abdomen) department policies were often changed to carry the baton in the trunk or switched to collapsable batons that could be carried on belt while seated.
I would personally not wear any footware that could come off the foot while driving or stow any equipment in the driver footwell. But then, I wouldn’t walk around in open-toed sandals except at the beach, and I do not understand people walking around in flip-flops in public as if that is acceptible footware to wear in restaurants and work sites
Stranger
Sandals and flip-flops are not the same though!
I would never wear flip-flops to avoid just what happened to you. Sandals though (non-flimsy ones) would be fine.
No. You already gave the reason.
I think the OP wants to know if what happened to him was unusual (2 part question). No, not unusual. Flip-flops are a bad idea for driving. Now you know why.
When I get into the driver’s seat of a car while wearing flip flops, I will invariably remove them and stow them under the driver’s seat (where they cannot fly forward into the footwell, due to the design of the seat) for exactly this reason. I am used to driving barefoot - if you’re not comfortable doing that, then changing shoes to drive is a good idea.
Yes, you probably should stop doing this. This sounds more like user error than the fault of the flip flops.
Aside from Sandals are definitely not Flip Flops, i gotta ask
How on earth does a flip flop overpower your foot?
Lots of people drive with them and get them caught on the pedals, and usually the flip flop just bends or breaks.
This happened to me years ago (briefly, there was no accident), and I’ve never worn sandals again while driving. In the rare cases that I’ve worn sandals to the car, I take them off and drive with bare feet (which feels a tiny bit weird, but allows even better control of the pedals then driving with shoes.
I would recommend not driving with sandals.
Any footwear that runs the risk of catching on or under a pedal is best avoided. flip flops are a terrible choice for driving in and sandals aren’t that much better. It isn’t so much that they get caught and your leg power can’t overcome them, more that you are thrown out of your normal driving “mindset” when it happens and that momentary mini-panic can be enough to cause an accident.
So ideally keep a pair of suitable slip-on shoes handy or bare feet if you have no other option (but even that can be so weird for most of us that it provides a distraction)
I have worn sandals while driving (not the flip-flop style) and never had a problem. Of course, when I drive, I usually look far enough ahead of where the car is that sudden foot movements are pretty rare. Maybe it is not the sandals that are the problem.
I have driven with shoes, sandals, just socks, bare feet, but never with flip flops. You actually answered your own question; it is not safe.
I thought it was ‘Is it safe to drink while wearing sandals’ and was going to post, “Not according to Jimmy Buffet”. But then I realized it didn’t say drink.
Still posted it though.
I drive a standard so I always go some sort of shoes. Full strap-on-hiking style sandals I would try if I had a pair but flip-flops or something like slippers and I wouldn’t feel totally safe.
I’ve been wearing them since I was a little guy, like 5 or 6 years old, I have been driving wearing them for years and have never been in an accident because of them, actually never been in an accident for that matter (extraordinarily fast reflexes help, yeah, i’m bragging). I am also not going to wear them when driving tomorrow, because now that I posted something, it may happen.
I think it depends on how much experience you have wearing them, I don’t think I’ve ever had one fall off either, and I am talking about flip flops (not the cheap old navy kind either, I mean the leather and cloth type that don’t break very easily)
actually at one time it was illegal in ca to wear sandals ect that didn’t have the toes covered and a strap across the heel just for that reason …it might still be …
But they never stopped anyone for it but if it was found out you were wearing flops in an accident you were in trouble … mom was pulled over for something and got a warning for it
I would NEVER drive wearing flip-flops. YMMV.