Believe it or not, driving in high heels is not actually illegal anywhere in the world.
Despite what you might sometimes hear, there are no laws against driving in heels. Yes, that means that driving in high heels is actually completely legal.
But now comes the fine print, and it is very important. All legal systems require drivers to have the proper control of their vehicle. This means they must drive safely and be able to execute all necessary manoeuvres conveniently and without delay.
If you don’t drive in the safest manner possible then you may be at risk of prosecution.
What all this means is that if you are considering driving in heels, you should make sure that you are able to properly control your vehicle and that you are confident in its operation. If you can’t do that, then keep flats in the car for driving instead.
In summary, driving in heels is not illegal just because they are heels. But you might break the law if you can’t control your car and your footwear causes an accident.
Does driving in heels impair your driving ability?
What we do know is that high heels do not necessarily impair your driving ability. This means that just by wearing heels you won’t automatically be driving unsafely.
The question of whether wearing heels hinders your driving ability was tested by the Mythbusters back in 2005. They compared driving in their regular flat shoes verses heels on a specially laid out course.
Mythbusters found that the time taken to complete the course in heels was so close to the time in flats. They concluded that footwear had no effect on driving performance and declared the myth BUSTED.
Once again, that might have been so for those particular heels in those particular circumstances on those particular… er… gentlemen. But that doesn’t mean all high heels are safe to drive in for everyone.
For example, the heels tested by Mythbusters were not particularly high and the vehicle used was an automatic transmission. Driving stick in 6 inch strappy stilettos might have yielded a very different – and dangerous – result.
Remember: walking in heels is one thing but driving in them is a whole separate challenge. If you are not going to do it safely, please do not do it at all.
Read more about driving in heels here.