How Safe Is It To Walk Barefoot In Cities?

July 14th, 2011
barefoot
When I first started walking barefoot to work, back at the end of april, I was worried about hurting my feet by stepping on glass. Several people warned me about it, but I couldn't find any good data on how likely it was. I've now been commuting barefoot most days since then, and I found a glass splinter in my foot for the first time today. (It wasn't so bad; it hurt some, I pulled it out with tweezers.) I count about forty hours of walking barefoot commuting to work daily over a little more than two months, including that I wasn't walking the whole way barefoot at first and some days I took the bus. Adding in other times I've been barefoot, on the weekends, etc, and I think it comes to about fifty hours of walking around somerville and cambridge. So: 2% chance of glass per hour walked (but wide error bars).

Note: I watch the ground pretty carefully when I walk, avoiding glass etc. If you are less careful, you'll probably step on more bad things.

Referenced in:

Comment via: facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

On Apologizing To Kids

Everyone is so weird about apologizing to children.

via Thing of Things August 25, 2025

Against the Teapot Hold in Contra Dancing

The teapot hold is the most dangerous common contra dancing figure, so I’ve been avoiding it. The teapot hold, sometimes called a "courtesy turn hold,” requires one dancer to connect with their hand behind their back. When I realized I could avoid put…

via Emma Azelborn August 25, 2025

Little Puppy

She's very little and she likes to do stuff with me. She also likes to bark around and run around and jump around. She also likes to go to places with me and that's all I have.

via Nora Wise's Blog Posts August 23, 2025

more     (via openring)