Team-BHP - Driving barefoot / without shoes....

A lot of women drive prefer removing their shoes/sandals, since the feel they get with a bare foot is much better than that with the sahoes/sandals on. I'm sure its a risky thing to wear heels and then drive, since the chances of the foot slipping off the pedal is almost 98%..
My wife prefers to wear sneakers/tight fitting slip ons as compared to heels/ loose fitting sandals. :Cheering: ..i'd call her smart, for trying to be a safe & sensible driver..

(last thing I want is for her to read this..heehee )..

This aspect of driving has intrigued me a lot. Let me explain:

My wife while driving will always remove her slippers and drive barefoot. I used to ask her why and she said that she just can't drive with her slippers on. I initially thought it to be strange and thought that this habit was specific to her, but; I found out that MANY people do the same.

I tried this way of driving, and to my surprise, I just couldn't drive without my shoes/slippers on. Driving barefoot just had an eerie feel to it for me. Felt like I could not brake or accelerate..

Can't figure out why..!!!

Anyone here has observed the same? Anyone who is comfortable driving both with shoes/slippers on and barefoot?

When i learnt to drive in my M800 my dad always told me to drive barefoot so that i get the real feel of braking and accelarating. But when we moved to Xing i found it very difficult to drive with barefoot and starting driving with shoes/slippers. My dad still drives it with his shoes removed (with socks) /barefoot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khan_sultan (Post 769626)

My wife while driving will always remove her slippers and drive barefoot. I used to ask her why and she said that she just can't drive with her slippers on.

Something do with wives probably, even my wife can't drive with slippers on. She even removes her sneakers before driving.

And as is expected of me, I cant drive without shoes at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nosfreak (Post 483156)

he scene gets worse when it comes to Valet parking lol: . those guys keep staring at me till i get my shoes on.... and the driver take it to park

Been there, done that :). Me too another victim of being addicted to barefoot driving and not being able to get over it. And ya, the Valet parking guys seem the most amused lot for this. In fact, I bought a new pair of slip-in shoes just for this bad habit of mine so that I don't take ages getting out of the car. I have driven with shoes occasionally to get over the prob. And frankly, whenever I've done that, I thought my clutch/accelerator synchronization was better while changing gears. But still that block is there in my mind and I drive barefoot/with socks all the time. After reading these posts, think I'll start the transitioning process seriously now.

Even i drive bare foot for two reasons:

Gives me true feel of the control
I love my car interiors to be clean and don't want the stink from outside to rub on the pedals. I also keep the (waste) newspapers under the drivers seat and on the foot mats to place my footwear on it.stupid:

I am satisfied with the ride / comfort. BTW as i saw in other thread, most of those who get this habit learned from some driving school or other most probably and i am no exception.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rtech (Post 484107)

As for driving in chappals (or flip flops to our Anglo brothers!), that is not only uncomfortable but downright dangerous as the chances of getting it or your foot jammed is really high.

My first preference would be with SHOES followed by bare foot and last comes Chappals. I feel the braking is efficient and quicker in the sequence I mentioned

Well i have been driving with footwear on from day one, other than at the time when my instructor was whipping me into shape to make the car move around safely. He firmly believed in the Neanderthal principle of no footwear.

Nowadays have put on a lot of weight and unless the pedals are made of whipped cream , my feet ache as soon as i encounter any resistance.So medium to thin soles are OK.

I do have a couple of the biggie soles kind of footwear(just to add up a couple of inches in height in the cheapest, fastest and foolproof manner :D ). I do struggle a little with this because the damn stuff is pretty heavy and if i let my foot rest on the accelarator will be doing the max speed always. So i need to suspend my foot in the air to ensure i touch the accelator just enough and only the right amount of weight is trnasferred :) .

All in all i swear by the use of footwear. Just make sure you have the right ones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitin (Post 484416)

Slightly offtopic... In general (please note) the footwear women wear is not good for driving / riding.....But they do a good job at spraining their legs....or making loud TATAK, PATAK sounds in an otherwise quiet office where everyone else is working. I could never understand how they can disturb an entire office with some silly CHAPPALS.

:Frustrati

-- Torqy

I prefer driving barefoot. Reasons:

1. Few cars have the pedals very close to each other. It will be difficult for one to press the brake pedal in a sudden situation.

2. In the past, I have driven a variety of cars like ambassador, 800, zen, quails, Accent, Elantra… (Father’s and relative’s cars). If you drive multiple cars, it will be difficult for you to get used to each car if you drive with footware. So I preferred driving barefoot.

Now I own a Fabia and the pedals are neatly placed. I drive with my shoes on. :)

Regards
Mahesh S

An incident during my early days of learning - circa 2000 - to drive forced me to ride bare foot for a few months. On a casual ride one sunday evening, I found heavy traffic near South End circle - bumper to bumper traffic. I was wearing slippers. Since I was still learning to drive, I wouldn't land my feet directly on the pedal - rather I land it approximately on the pedal guessing its position.

The traffic started to move and I pushed on the accelerator. Then the guy in front of me braked hard and I lifted the right foot off the accelerator and stamped the brakes - or so I though. Actually my right foot landed on the edge of the brake and then the slipper , just went through the gap between the brake and the accelerator and got stuck. I was like :Shockked: Hastily pulled handbrake still managed to nick his rear bumper but the guy didn't notice it much to my relief.

Started to ride barefoot till I was comfy with the pedal positions. Not a problem these days though.