Some people focus a lot of their mental energy below the ankles; you know who you are. If you have never given much thought to the shoes you wear, consider yourself lucky. Once you reach a certain age, your feet will start to hurt if you walk more than a few steps in shoes that do not provide proper support; those dirt-cheap shoes from Payless are awfully cute, but if you are past your 30s, then just looking at them makes your feet hurt. Likewise, if you play a sport competitively, you must shell out money for specialized footwear; you only perform at your best when your shoes are in tip-top shape, and that is a shorter interval than you might imagine. If the only company that makes the ballet slippers you have been dancing in for years raises its prices, you have little choice but to pay the new price.
Then there are the folks for whom footwear is a hobby; perhaps you are married to someone who loves his eye-catching sneakers more than he loves you, or perhaps you watch in horror as your gainfully employed daughter blows her entire paycheck on high heels. Even if you pride yourself on having better things to think about than shoes, the insurance company might account for your footwear when determining fault in an accident claim. If you got injured in a car accident caused by a barefoot or improperly shod lawyer, contact a Santa Fe motor vehicle accident lawyer.
The Dangers of Driving in Improper Footwear
Neither New Mexico nor any other state has laws on the books about which shoes drivers can wear while driving a car. Technically, it is legal to drive barefoot, although it is easy to see why it is a bad idea. The people who designed the accelerator pedals and brake pedals assumed that drivers would use them while wearing shoes that cover the foot and have a sole made of rubber or a similarly thick material.
If you drive barefoot, it requires more pressure to get the brakes to engage than when you drive in your regular shoes. This means that it could take longer than usual for you to stop. Likewise, flip flops and similarly loose-fitting sandals change the way that your foot interacts with the car’s pedals. Part of the flip-flop could get stuck on the gas pedal or the brake pedal, or even worse, on the car’s floor mat. This could mean that you cannot brake or accelerate when you need to, or it could take you a longer time to stop braking or accelerating. The insurance company might increase your share of fault for the accident because of this.
Contact Slate Stern About Personal Injury Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in car accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.yahoo.com/news/illegal-drive-sandals-nj-legal-082631851.html
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