A reminder as the weather warms to consider your footwear.
When it is warm outside and you’re wearing jandals/thongs or sandals, you may be tempted to drive in them too.
Don’t, for safety reasons, say automotive experts.
Depending on where you live, the footwear may not be prohibited by law. That’s the case in Australia and New Zealand where there is no rule against donning them while driving.
However advice from Germany’s driving association ADAC advises against wearing them at the wheel. NZ’s Automobile Association agrees, strongly discouraging wearing jandals while driving.
“That is because jandals significantly increase the risk of an accident. Particularly when you apply the brakes, there is a risk that such open shoes would slip off the pedal faster, meaning the car won’t come to a halt soon enough,” says Oliver Reidegeld from ADAC Hessen-Thüringen.
Worse still, loose footwear could come off your feet, become wedged in the footwell and block the pedals.
However, simply taking off your jandals and the like before setting off and driving barefoot is not a good idea either. In an emergency, you could not apply the necessary pressure to the brake pedal quickly enough, under certain circumstances, Reidegeld says.
Problems with your insurance
Bear in mind that while legally, no particular footwear is prescribed for drivers in principle, for drivers, meaning jandals, sandals and so on are not banned, if an accident occurs, you may struggle with the insurance.
Drivers may be found partly at fault for having breached the duty of care required when driving on public roads.
In some cases, that could mean your comprehensive insurance could reduce or even completely refuse cover on the grounds of gross negligence.
So choose sturdy footwear when driving that fits securely and safely and is not too wide, the ADAC says.
“If you don’t want to walk around in closed shoes all day, you can simply keep a pair of trainers in the boot as a spare and quickly change your shoes before setting off,” Reidegeld says.
