By a show of hands, how many peoplebelieve it’s unlawful to drive without your shoes on?  How about, it’s unlawful to read or view written material from the driver’s position?  How about the law against eating or drinking that requires the use of both hands, while driving the vehicle?

You can put your hands down.  There is no specific law against doing any of these things.

In fact, many times law enforcement and traffic safety personnel would recommend that if you are wearing shoes with a high heel or that are oversized, that you remove the shoes (place them somewhere other than on the floor of the driver’s area) and continue to operate the vehicle with socks or bare feet.

With regard to reading, eating and drinking (non-alcoholic beverage), yes, there is no specific law against it, but why do it?  Inattention is a contributing factor in many traffic collisions.  Reaching down to adjust the radio, plugging in your cell phone charger and reaching back to settle a kid down in the back seat are all distractions.

What the law does require is that while you are the driver of a vehicle, you are responsible for keeping it within the traffic lane, not following too closely, not exceeding the posted speed limit and to obey every other traffic law.  By now, everyone pretty much knows that it is unlawful to talk or text with your cell phone while you are driving, unless it is hands-free.  What is so important that we need to be on that phone, when you are undertaking one of the most important tasks we have, had since age 16 — driving a vehicle?

As the driver of a motor vehicle, you are making multiple decisions every moment you are in that vehicle.  Driving down the road you are considering the safe or legal speed, other vehicles in the area, roadway conditions, traffic signs and signals, pedestrians, bicycles, approaching intersections, and private driveways; the list goes on and on.  Carrying on a phone conversation with someone you are driving home to see, doesn’t seem to be tops on my list of important things to do while you are operating over 2,000 pounds of vehicle barreling down the road.  When did it become so necessary that we have to eat a burrito, drink a Big Gulp, load the CD changer and punch in the coordinates on our GPS while driving a vehicle?

It may sound fatalistic, but as the driver or passenger in a vehicle you really need to be in a pre-crash position.  This means you are seated upright (not lying back with the seat reclined) with your safety belt fitted properly and your feet on the floor, not up on the dash or hanging out the window.  Please exit the freeway or pull to the curb of the street anytime you need to resolve issues within the vehicle (wipe up a spilled soda, locate a map).

The driver of a motor vehicle has one responsibility, and that is to ensure that everyone in that vehicle gets to the destination safely and lawfully.  Nothing more!

As I said, there is no specific law against many things we do while driving but that doesn’t make them right.  The next time you get into the driver’s seat, secure your seat belt, adjust your mirrors and take just a moment to realize that you are responsible for that vehicle and its passengers and its safe operation on the roadway.  Now sit back and enjoy the drive.

Monty Hight is a retired California Highway Patrol officer and Public Information Officer. He is the Northstate AVOID Campaign’s Public Information Officer. He lives in Redding. More information on AVOID can be found here.