Botta's Auto Body

Get Your Feet Off My Dashboard for Safety's Sake

My kids like taking their shoes off and resting their feet on the dashboard, especially when they know that it's annoying me. I tell them that it's a dangerous thing to do, but they don't really seem to care. It must be like all of the various warnings my parents used to give me, like don't swim 30 minutes after eating or look both ways before crossing the street. It's excellent advice, but when it comes from your parents it does not seem to carry much weight.

At Botta's Auto Body, we are all about vehicle safety and that's why we often share car safety-related blogs with our readers in San Francisco, CA about this important and relevant topic. 

I was taking my son to his baseball practice the other day and he decided to put his feet up on the dashboard like he was going to recline in luxury all the way to his destination. I asked him and then told him to get his feet off my dashboard and he gave me a funny look.

A Tennessee fire department recently used Facebook in order to share a very crucial car safety tip that often gets overlooked or completely ignored. The Chattanooga Fire Department shared this distressing message, which was initially posted by the well-known road safety activist Shane O'Connor on Twitter, to caution people about the dangers of riding in a vehicle with their feet up on the dashboard.

"While traveling over the weekend, I saw several passengers that had their feet on the dashboard of their vehicle," the post read. "Airbags customarily deploy between 100 and 130 mph. If you ride with your feet on the dash and you're involved in any type of accident, the airbags could send your knees right through your eye sockets."

While that may sound like an unlikely  scenario, one woman from Georgia woman was able to confirm that this nightmare can happen to just about anyone.

Audra Tatum stated that she used to ride in vehicles with her feet up on the dashboard all the time."My husband would often tell me, 'If we get into a crash, it's going to break your leg.' but I blew him off," she explained.

But during the summer of 2015, everything changed when Tatum and her husband were T-boned by another car on their way to pick up their kids from her parent's home. At the time of the collision, Tatum wasn't wearing a seat belt and was also resting her feet up against the dashboard.

The force of the airbags exploded right through her feet and shattering her nose, ankle, femur and left shoulder. Doctors told her that she likely wouldn't have sustained any injuries at all if she had kept her feet off the dashboard.

 So, if you think resting your feet on the dashboard is relaxing, think twice and make the safer move. Keep your feet where they belong, on the vehicle's floor and surely not up on the dashboard.

Sources: AOL, CNN and AAA