3/12

Driving Barefoot

You probably know that driving barefoot isn’t the safest choice. When you’re used to driving in shoes, driving without them can feel foreign, and that’s not what you want when operating a motor vehicle. “It requires you to put more pressure on the pedals than you usually do when wearing shoes, says Laura Adams, a safety and education analyst at Driver’sEd.com. “That could affect your braking time, putting you at risk.” But Tehrani acknowledges that barefoot driving is actually a preferable option to driving with some of these other dangerous shoe options, especially if said shoes are particularly uncomfortable. Driving barefoot at least “allows one to have more control of the pedals and a direct feel for any deviations while applying pressure to the brake or gas pedal,” she explains. However, its other drawbacks make it risky enough that you should avoid it.

4/12

Road Rage

According to J. Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, “Aggressive driving contributes to 56 percent of all fatal car crashes”. Road rage, angry outbursts, and arguing in your car can make you vulnerable in more ways than one. According to a 2014 research review from the Harvard School of Public Health, it’s possible angry outbursts both on and off the road can trigger a heart attack or stroke hours later.

5/12

Not Wearing Your Seatbelt

Putting on a seat belt is such an easy thing to do. According to NHTSA, seat belts saved more than 75,000 lives between 2004 and 2008. Airbags make cars safer, but they’re designed to work in conjunction with seat belts, which help prevent passenger ejection during high speed crashes and rollovers.