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| A driver controls the pedals barefooted. Driving barefoot may refresh your feet, but experts say it can threaten your safety. / Korea Times |
By Nam Hyun-woo
"Is it safe or dangerous to drive after taking off ones shoes?"
This may be a question many drivers have asked themselves at least once. There are no laws regulating barefoot-driving currently, but it could pose a threat to safe driving.
In a number of Korean automotive online communities, Internet users share their opinion about driving shoeless. Most of them say that driving barefoot refreshes their feet and also provides a unique sensibility ― a more tactile feeling of how the car accelerates and stops.
Some people who spend most of their time behind the wheel say they often take off their shoes while driving.
Choi Joong-man, a cabbie who has been behind the wheel for over three decades, said, "A taxi driver has to sit in the car almost all day and that makes my foot sweaty. I used to drive barefoot whenever I could to combat this."
However, he said one time his discarded shoe got stuck under the car's brake pedal. Luckily, he escaped an accident, but his cab swerved into oncoming heavy traffic, leaving a huge skid mark.
"Since then, I quit driving barefoot and I now wear a pair of airy sandal with straps," he said.
This is solely an anecdote from Choi. Police say barefoot drivers' discarded footwear may get stuck under any of the car's pedals, impairing the ability to break or accelerate.
Traffic rules
According to police, there are a slew of traffic rules regulating drivers' use of the "upper body," such as prohibiting the use of mobile phones or watching DMB TVs. But there are almost no rules on drivers' footwear.
While you can't be ticketed for not wearing footwear behind the wheel currently, there used to be a regulation prohibiting barefoot driving.
In 1977, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency launched a crackdown on cabbies driving without shoes or wearing sleeveless shirts and imposed fines of 5,000 won, approximately 100,000 won today's rate.
However, the ban mainly focused on requiring taxi drivers to look tidy, rather than out of safety concerns.
An official at the Korea Transportation Safety Authority said, "It could be dangerous to drive without shoes, but there are no regulations on drivers' footwear or studies regarding barefoot driving."
However, he said that it is recommended for drivers not to wear high heels or slippers.
Why dangerous?
Many drivers and traffic authorities say barefoot driving is "somewhat" different and risky from driving wearing shoes. Automotive engineers explain the difference scientifically rather than citing mishaps such as loose shoes jamming control pedals.
Park Min-Young at Hyundai Motor, the country's largest automaker, said the difference comes from the pressure on the pedals.
"It can be explained by simple science. Pressure equals force over a surface area. Therefore, using the same force, a smaller surface area creates more pressure," he said.
According to his explanation, drivers often use their big toe or the balls of their feet to activate pedals. If a barefoot driver presses the brake pedal with a certain amount of force, the surface area becomes small since it equals to the size of the toe. The pedal takes more pressure and works more than the driver intended, making the car stop suddenly.
When a shoe-clad driver uses his toe to push the pedal with the same force, however, the whole of the shoe's sole is involved and with the greater surface area, the pedal experiences lower pressure, and so the car stops smoothly.
"When a barefoot driver steps on a brake pedal, a car stops much more suddenly than the driver intended. It looks like the car has hiccups, which is very dangerous for cars behind. Thus, barefoot driving is more dangerous than shoe-clad driving, especially when driving in cities where traffic repeatedly stops," he said.
"Also, a barefoot driver has to control pedals more sophisticatedly and that can tire them out," said Park.
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