Skip the stilettos: the right driving shoe matters
There was a recent photo of the glamorous Maria Sharapova, tennis superstar and Porsche brand ambassador, exiting a Boxster Spyder. The car and the woman are both quite lovely but all I could think as I stared at her towering stilettos (also quite spectacular if you like that kind of thing, and I do) was, “That car only comes with a standard transmission. I really need to compare driving notes with her.”
You shouldn’t drive in high heels. You shouldn’t drive in bare feet. You shouldn’t drive in hiking boots, flip-flops, mukluks, Uggs, platforms, work boots, slippers, snowmobile boots, socks or slippery-soled loafers (tassels optional). Adorning yourself from that list won’t break any traffic laws. The law only intervenes if your choice of footwear actually causes a crash, like if your flip-flop gets trapped behind the throttle, or your gigantic winter boots mash down on both pedals as you swear up and down you’re a victim of unintended acceleration.
If you ask the pros, they’ll tell you the best driving shoes should be thin-soled, flexible but firm, well fitted with a closed toe and without a raised heel. You need to feel contact with the pedals, you need to know at all times where you are within that pedal’s range of movement, and no part of your footwear should be susceptible to catching or blocking the pedals. Seems pretty straightforward, yet many of us get it wrong, and I am sometimes one of them.
The driving shoes the pros prefer are usually quite ugly when paired with anything besides a firesuit; I share Ms. Sharapova’s love of a towering heel and, while I can run in them, I don’t drive in them. I toss them into the back and drive barefoot, something that makes the police officer I contacted for legal clarification shudder.
Instructors will recommend you trade out your stilettos, steel toes, hiking boots or flip-flops for a set of proper footwear while you drive. And they are right, but it pretty much never happens. Nobody thinks what they’re doing is wrong until that second when it is. Personally, I think flip-flops are the devil’s idea of a joke when it comes to driving: flimsy, unsecured straps of plastic that are easily wedged beneath pedals and can slip off faster than a prom dress while providing zero protection in a crash. And that is ultimately the whole point of discussing footwear.
I can solemnly avow that I have full pedal control in bare feet, but the truth is, any pieces of gravel trapped in the pedals could become an instant issue, and if you are involved in a crash, getting out of a car surrounded by broken glass and metal in bare feet is the height of stupidity. Never underestimate the effect being in shock can have on you, even in the most low-speed collisions.
Work boots often have a metal shaft in the sole as well as steel toes, which can reduce your sensitivity. You may be fine driving your pickup in them all week, but hop into a vehicle with the pedals closer together or one with less space in the cabin around your feet and it’s an issue. Likewise, add some ice or water to the bottom of your leather soled dress shoes and watch how fast your feet slip off the pedals.
If you do trade out your inappropriate kicks for more serious ones (or none at all), don’t leave the rejected pair in your foot well. It doesn’t take much to pitch them behind the pedals and turn a dangerous situation into a fatal one.
It’s been noted here before that driving is the most dangerous thing we do every day and one to which we often give little thought. Our cars have become such a comfortable extension of our homes that we sometimes fail to appreciate how quickly something can go wrong.
On a track or on road trips and driving gigs, I always wear The Proper Shoes. I only draw the line at rugged off-roading because the soles of great driving shoes are often too thin if you’re hauling yourself over sharp rocky ledges and up sharp vertical hills.
I recently received a new pair of driving shoes from Piloti, a famous brand recently resurrected here in Canada. They’re awesome and I appreciated the timing, because my old pair of Goodyear driving shoes are pretty much toast, and a backup pair of lightweight sneakers weren’t providing enough support. Spend any time behind the wheel in a professional capacity and it quickly becomes very clear how important it is to dial in that trifecta of eyes, hands and feet.
I doubt I’m going to convince anyone to start swapping out their footwear every time they get in the car, and the law certainly isn’t going to bother. But if I could outlaw two things people wear while driving, it would be flip-flops and clumsy winter boots. Manufacturers have learned the hard way about pedals engineered too close together and car mats that can dangerously shift. I can beg you not to pile winter mats on summer ones and to keep water bottles and garbage away from your foot well, but only you can know if you’re paying enough attention to that critical contact point between your feet and your car.