Safe Speed Forums

Aye .. you are correct - would have little word in shell if copped shaving as well... , combing hair, using one of those hair curly things, applying make-up ..... May even land an "undue or careless" ....

We would prosecute a driving instructor if he were drunk whilst supervising a lesson.... and we would prosecute you if you got drunk and decided to spend might in your car.... we have even prosecuted a woman (believe or not) fro driving barefoot... as this is deemed to be "not in control " (Foot can slip off pedals.....apparently)

Do not ask me how this works when ladies wear high heels ..... So far ... not met many colleagues who 'fess up to being brave enough to tick off over that one .... Did try once myself ...reaction was cross between PMT, menopause, insult to womanhood, tinged with "feminist reaction" at its most colourful ..... and I still wonder how I managed to get back to the station with my male vocal cords still intact....

She went off on one at me over it..... Acid tone did not cut it with that one ... I met my match that day ..... Could not find anything to actually prosecute her for .. apart from her choice of footwear....and could not really make that stand up in court, and it was Xmas ... so I gave her a producer ... and she complained about my acid attitude .....

We had a good laugh over doughnuts over it .....

And "I had to get to work" won't tend to cut it with IG or his buddies.

Last time I looked Taxis were still running.

Getting to work is no excuse for going out in an obviously defective vehicle.

Hmm, wouldn't fancy it myself, but a lot of people advocate this (or at least wearing no shoes) as they say it gives better control and feeling.

In fact there was a letter in the latest issue of the IAM magazine saying precisely that.

In the 1960s when "economy drives" were popular, driving barefoot was often recommended for that.

I would have thought that was a case of the police having better things to do.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

And when you go to brake and there's a sharp bit of grit or glass stuck to the ball of your foot from the car mat?

You'd already have been aware of its presence as a result of that same foot having been pressed against the accelerator pedal... unless you're an advocate of left foot braking, of course Seriously though, anyone who is a regular barefoot driver is probably more likely to keep their car mats/carpets as clean as possible, just as people who like to walk around their home barefoot pay more attention to keeping their floors clean.

Besides which, even if you did have a somehow previously unannounced bit of grit/glass stuck to your foot, by the time you noticed the sharp pain from your foot you'd already be pressing down on the pedal - the unexpected pain seems bearable provided you maintain the pressure, it's only when you release the pressure and then try re-applying it, knowing that it'll hurt again, that you pull back.


As far as barefeet slipping off pedals... I've experimented (whilst parked up one day) with bare feet and socks, comparing them to my normal trainer-clad feet. With bare feet I seemed to have at least as much grip as when wearing trainers, if not slightly more - the ability of the soles of my feet to mould themselves slightly into the grooves on the pedals made it feel as if I had a better "grip" on the pedal than when wearing shoes. Socks, on the other hand, felt decidedly less grippy than either barefeet or shoes. Though nothing like as bad as the time at a petrol station when I'd got into the car not realising I'd stood in a puddle of spilled fuel on the way back from the kiosk - felt OK walking across the concrete forecourt, but as soon as I touched the brake pedal, yikes Which makes me wonder - if it's illegal to drive barefoot due to the potential for loss of control, does the same bit of the law also make it illegal to drive wearing shoes with with wet/oily soles, where the potential to lose control is surely far higher?

On the original theme of 'not believing what I'm seeing' here I have just reported an Audi driver to our local constabulary, whether anything comes of it, Im doubtful.
I was driving out from Shifnal along a minor A road and began to close upon the Audi that appeared to be slowing as it rode down a dip in the road and them began up the other side. Simultaneously it began to drift across to the right, until it was about 75% on the wrong side of the road about half way up the hill. Then a Citroen appeared over the crest of the hill.... Oh Fffffff lippin' heck, I thought, this aint gonna be pretty.
At that precise moment the Audi driver moved in his seat, sitting bolt upright (from what appeared to be a 'leaning left' position) with his left arm crooked, hand to ear. The jerk was on the phone reading something on his passenger seat
Fortunately the Audi driver was able to wrench the vehicle across out of the way of the frantically braking Citroen, it then shot off at speed eventually heading down onto the M54.
Gobsmacked? No, I'm not in the least bit surprised by any moronic activity I see on the roads nowadays. I'll certainly be gobsmacked if the anything happens to the driver - in a legal sense that is.

Indeed .... was a bit back and not in current patch. Guy was one of the "jobsworthy" types

However, was one case about September 2002..... forget where it was exactly .... but woman got £30 fine for kicking off her shoes ... and driving her car in stocking-clad feet....

I agree .. it beggars belief. Personally, would not matter to me type of footwear or foot copntrolled the pedals - so ling as there was evidence that person was handling and controlling car in competent manner.

More than likely ... wil not be able to prosecute or do anything as cannot prove it....

But .... sometimes ... if we get a lot of complaints of sundry traffic offences (which include mobile phone reports just as much as speeding ) ... we target them. We have done some routine checks on reaction and braking time in normal traffic with people on mobiles. (We were not checking speed on that road ... but er ... lot of pople thought we were!

Lot of other forces have been doing same sort of routine checksof this nature and the data has yet to be collated - so nothing conclusive or even publishable as yet. . But this is just non-lab check on actual Joes and Josephine Average Public on the road ... and we are trying to establish how far use of mobile phone appears to affect driving under normal everyday conditions

However, we were one of the ones clamping down from initial legislation ... booking less than we did and hopefully the tougher penalty will deter further.

Yep, she should've been booked. The Highway Code states that you should not park or overtake on the zig zags of a zebra crossing.