Barefoot Behind the Wheel: Is It Legal in New York?

There is a popular belief, probably made so by the words of our parents that we can all still hear resounding in our heads that driving barefoot in New York is against the law, but is it true?

Chalk this illegal barefoot driving belief up to a made-up one because, as it turns out, New York has no laws that prevent a person from driving barefoot if they want to.

Even better, if a police officer pulls you over for something else like a broken taillight, looks down, and realizes that you’re driving barefoot, they can’t issue you a ticket for barefoot driving – no matter what your parents may have told you.

On the flip side, there’s a good reason that our parents scared us into thinking we’d get locked behind bars if we drove without shoes and it’s most likely that they wanted us to be safe.

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Driving barefoot or even in flip-flops (which an enormous number of us are guilty of) can be dangerous because doing so reduces our ability to control our vehicle in the event of an emergency.

If you’re someone who likes to drive barefoot and you plan to do some traveling outside of New York this summer and are concerned that driving barefoot in the state(s) you plan to visit might be illegal, good news for you, it’s not. None of the 50 states have any laws against driving barefoot, although some have rules about needing to wear shoes when using a motorcycle, and rightfully so.