Flip flops or bare feet? Do you know legal driving footwear?

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – So, you’re going to the beach to enjoy this beautiful weather — is it legal to drive there with your flip flops on?

Yes.

In BC, and many other provinces and US states, you can drive with bare feet, sandals or even slippers that look like bear’s feet if you want.

“But they’re certainly not safe. It’s legal but really unsafe,” says Steve Wallace, owner of Wallace Driving School in Victoria.

Many drivers have misconceptions about what’s allowed and what’s not while they’re behind the wheel, and summer offers a few seasonal challenges.

“Most people don’t know that school zones only apply on the 195 or so statutory school days. There are no school zones governing summer school, Christmas holidays or Easter break,” Wallace tells News1130. But the same can’t be said for playground zones.

“Playground zones count every day of the year — New Year’s Day, Christmas day, your birthday, it’s always roughly sun up to sundown. Of course you should always slow down, because a lot of the school zones double as play areas. The key is that black and white speed signs you have to follow and yellow and black signs are simply warnings,” he explains.

If you see a parking spot across the street by your favourite patio, can you make a turn across a yellow centre line or double solid?

“You can turn across those lines in order to enter or exit residential or business areas but you’re not permitted to hold up traffic in doing so. That’s a ticketable offense. They changed that law in the mid 80s.”

And with summer roadwork in full swing, watch for changes to regular rules of the road.

“The rule is you have to abide by the posted speed but always look to the flag people, they take precedent over lights and signs — their instruction trumps any other traffic control that happens to be in effect. Take a look at the flag people, they’re your guide,” Wallace says.

Many American tourists head north on summer road trips, resulting in more vehicles on the road without daytime running lights.

“Those vehicles are known to have a disproportionately high number of crashes. The reason is we just don’t see them, we don’t key in to them. Be very careful this summer, take a good look at the vehicles coming at you with no lights on.”

Wallace also wants you to remember that it’s not the curves, intersections or hills that cause most of the problems.

“Seventy percent of fatal crashes in summer happen on clear, dry, straight roads. That extra 10, 15 or 20 kilometres an hour you go beyond the speed limit is a killer. Remember stopping distance increases as a square proportion to speed — triple your speed and it takes you nine times as far to stop. Stay appreciably close to the speed that’s posted. That’s the safest thing you can do.”