Is it illegal to drive barefoot?

Burnsy2023 said:
That made me laugh. I've not heard something so preposterous in a while. I doubt an insurance company could say that with a straight face and personally, I'd be happy to take them to court over it.Burnsy
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The insurance company could say it while laughing their heads off and wearing a clown outfit, it would make no difference. I'm glad you have the time and money to take an insurance company to court. Have you any experience dealing with insurance company legal departments? I have a little and it is not fun. Remember it would be civil matter, they don't have to prove beyond reasonable doubt


Burnsy2023 said:
Which are?

Burnsy
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1) Loose material (small stone) becoming wedged on the pedal grip. Causing pain when your foot is preseed against the pedal. Resulting in the instinctive retraction of your foot.

2) Accidentally stubbing your toe cauusing a momentary loss of concentration.
 
peter_hutson said:
The insurance company could say it while laughing their heads off and wearing a clown outfit, it would make no difference. I'm glad you have the time and money to take an insurance company to court. Have you any experience dealing with insurance company legal departments? I have a little and it is not fun. Remember it would be civil matter, they don't have to prove beyond reasonable doubt.
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I've had experience dealing with various company's legal departments and aslong as you are firm and state that you are not going to let this go it's surprising how many will want to avoid the hassle of court. At the end of the day, as long as you can give a good case to the judge that your control wasn't affected there's nothing any insurance company can do to prevent a claim.

peter_hutson said:
1) Loose material (small stone) becoming wedged on the pedal grip. Causing pain when your foot is preseed against the pedal. Resulting in the instinctive retraction of your foot.
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I keep my car clean and should I want to drive bare foot I'd check for things like that and anyway, I'd notice very quickly if this was the case before I even moved off.
peter_hutson said:
2) Accidentally stubbing your toe cauusing a momentary loss of concentration
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I press the pedal, not stab them. I think it's more likely that my shoe lace cased me a momentry loss of concentration.

Burnsy
 
I don't know if it is illegal to drive bare foot, but i was stopped once by the rozzers coming back from 5-a-sides, I don't know if they had little action that night but I got a ticking off for driving with molded stud football boots on (not the 6 studded type), they said I could lose control of the car.

They never actually told me to take them off though :confused:
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I've had experience dealing with various company's legal departments and aslong as you are firm and state that you are not going to let this go it's surprising how many will want to avoid the hassle of court. At the end of the day, as long as you can give a good case to the judge that your control wasn't affected there's nothing any insurance company can do to prevent a claim.



I keep my car clean and should I want to drive bare foot I'd check for things like that and anyway, I'd notice very quickly if this was the case before I even moved off.

I press the pedal, not stab them. I think it's more likely that my shoe lace cased me a momentry loss of concentration.

Burnsy
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All of our comments so far are subjective and a matter of opinion. Do you not agree that this could cause serious problems in a court of law?
 
I'm pretty certain that it's not "illegal", but just not recommended, and should something occur that is deemed you may have been able to avoid had you been wearing shoes, then you may get another penalty.

Such as driving without shoe care and attention


*groan*
 
peter_hutson said:
All of our comments so far are subjective and a matter of opinion. Do you not agree that this could cause serious problems in a court of law?
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I can't see any court upholding the non payment of a claim for not wearing shoes in this country. So no, I don't think this would be a problem.

Confused said:
I'm pretty certain that it's not "illegal", but just not recommended, and should something occur that is deemed you may have been able to avoid had you been wearing shoes, then you may get another penalty.

Such as driving without shoe care and attention


*groan*
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That's awful :(
Burnsy
 
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Well I can see a judge deciding that you contributed to an accident by not wearing suitable footwear. I guess we will have to just agree to disagree, unless someone can find a precedent.
 
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Driving barefoot in summer with aircon blasting at your feet = lovely.
I've heard it's illegal before from random goons but never from something official.
 
Interesting link, but I just don't think this has any merit at all or be able to stand up in a court of law:
Barefoot while driving without any kind of footwear allows a driver to have an exceptional feel for the level of the pressure being applied to the pedals, in the event of needing to make an emergency stop a driver may have trouble applying enough pressure. Also, driving without any footwear at all can cause injuries to the foot.
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I've never felt this to be a problem but then I have power assisted brakes.

But I suppose this is still only conjecture, so without case law it's hard to give anything other then an opinion.

Burnsy
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Interesting link, but I just don't think this has any merit at all or be able to stand up in a court of law:


I've never felt this to be a problem but then I have power assisted brakes.

But I suppose this is still only conjecture, so without case law it's hard to give anything other then an opinion.

Burnsy
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I agree it proves nothing, but information on a site operated by a legal company that specialises in compensation claims is a little more substansive than conjecture.

I found the comment that shoe soles should not be more than 7 cm think. Who on earth drives around wearing platform shoes :-)
 
peter_hutson said:
I agree it proves nothing, but information on a site operated by a legal company that specialises in compensation claims is a little more substansive than conjecture.
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Ok, it's biased conjecture ;)

peter_hutson said:
I found the comment that shoe soles should not be more than 7 cm think. Who on earth drives around wearing platform shoes
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I totally agree that that is madness though :eek:

Burnsy
 
Just to confirm, I've just had a email back from Dick Harlow of West Yorkshire Police who has confirmed that it is not illegal to drive barefoot :)

Burnsy
 
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