We started the adventure with high heels since those seem to be the hot topic. I had her do some flooring and braking along with fast driving in each pair of shoes to make the test equal and fair.
She did some normal driving to start off as a baseline test.
Notice how she keeps her heel on the floor while pushing the pedal causing her motion to be smooth.
Then she steps it up, placing the pedal to the floor and keeping it down. Note again how she keeps her heel on the floor while rocking the pedal all the way down.
She keeps the pedal down to hit the speed limiter of the car at 125MPH.
After proving that she can drive fast without killing us because of her shoes we slow down into a brake check. She takes her foot off the gas pedal and starts braking heavy. You will note her heel on the floor not flying about all over the pedals.
The car slows down to normal speeds and we find the closest exit to get off and do a shoe change.
We then did a shoe change and she put on her Puma sneakers which is what all the "professionals" recommend for driving in. She starts off with normal highway driving again.
Again she drives with her heel on the floor and rocks the pedal down. When the highway cleared she adjusted her footing quickly and put the pedal to the metal.
She kept the pedal down until yet again she hit 125MPH.
After hitting top speed she let off the gas and started into her hard braking again.
We finished off by driving back and I conducted a small survey with her. Below are the questions I asked and her responses:
1. What were the differences driving in the heels vs sneakers?
A. My heels were a little taller in the back so when I had to floor the pedal it took a little more effort where my sneakers I could just stomp the pedal down.
2. Did you have any problems going from driving fast to heavy braking in either pair of shoes?
A. With my sneakers I just let off the gas and was able to hit the brake really quick in my heels I had to let off the pedal and then reach a little higher with my toes to hit the brake hard. In fact I had to lift my foot off the floor a little to do it.
3. If you were faced with making a quick decision which shoes do you think would be safer?
A. Well it seems like my sneakers are a better choice if I were driving 80MPH on a highway and had to make a quick decision. If I were just driving around 55MPH I think I could still manage to make a quick decision in my heels. I won't lie it is a little harder on the braking but going from the brake back to pushing the gas to the floor in my heels it isn't too bad.
4. Do you think a lot of the women who drive in heels and cause accidents it is because of their shoes?
A. Since I am a woman and can seem to drive fine in my heels I think it more of the girly girls that are texting, talking on the phone, doing their hair, and not paying attention that cause the accidents. On more than one occasion do I see other women driving and stopping in traffic to put on makeup and other stuff they should have done at home.
In my observations I would have to say she did quite well in the heels, you could see more reaction time needed with the heels for her to hit the gas and brake properly but not the extreme that most of these so called "trials" videos depict. Most of their subjects seem to be first time drivers and there foot going crazy all over the pedals. On a couple videos I have seen they actually do some real time trials and reaction times but even in those I think it was staged a little or just simple bad reaction of the driver.
This subject may require some more testing so stand by as we test out some more ideas!
Great article! I would love if you would have tried more shoes - how about flip flops? Platform sandals?
ReplyDeleteDifferent shoes hve different functions, different Womens Shoes make people have different temperament.
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