While National Go Barefoot Day wrapped up Monday evening, a national initiative is trying to convince residents to go barefoot every day.

The Barefoot Is Legal organization was founded in 2015 after founder Dave Kelman began his research on the dangers of driving with improper shoes.

Over 20 years before its founding, a 20-year-old Kelman was hard at work performing food service at a hotel in Las Vegas. Hours after the beginning of his shift, Kelman spilled boiling water, some of which became trapped in his Doc Martens boots, burning his feet.

The burns were severe enough to hospitalize him for 13 days, and ever since, he has refused to wear shoes.

Since the initiative’s founding five years ago, the Barefoot Is Legal campaign and Facebook group have garnered over 125,000 members.

Kelman discovered a lack in barefoot laws after he began looking into the legality of being barefoot in different businesses when developing his own comedy clubs.

No one was able to provide any laws, codes or policies about going barefoot in public establishments, even after speaking with the Department of Health, his insurance company, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the fire department and the sheriff’s department.

Now, Kelman hosts an annual event that challenges drivers to travel barefoot as much as possible.

Each year, about 1.4 million accidents nationwide are caused by drivers wearing improper shoes, such as flip flops and high heels.

Kelman said the impact driving barefoot has on safety is exponential. Even socks, he said, are more dangerous than simply driving barefoot.

“We’re trying to get the word out to stop driving in heels, platforms, flip flops and slides,” he said. “Be safe. Think about the other drivers around you, take a second, kick them off and drive barefoot for safety.”

While the easiest solution would be to kick off the shoes and drive barefoot, most people have heard that doing such a thing is against the law, Kelman said.

“There’s no such law (that) exists for driving a car, going to the store or eating in public without shoes on,” he said. “The average person thinks those laws exist. Everybody wants to go barefoot, but they don’t because they think it’s illegal.”

Across all 50 states, Kelman said, it is not illegal, nor has it ever been illegal, to drive or shop barefoot.

Kelman said this notion stems from the 1960s, when business owners were looking for loopholes to avoid serving minorities and people participating in the hippie movement.

The hippie movement largely opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War, criticized middle class values and championed sexual liberation, which many small business owners at the time felt was un-American.

While going barefoot in public is not illegal, private businesses can have patrons removed for clothing standards. In order to bend the rules and avoid serving “undesirables,” Kelman said businesses instituted a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policy.

Since then, shoes have become an indicator of social status in offices nationwide, Kelman said. In some cases, he said, employers are looking at a prospective employee’s shoes before anything else during an interview.

In 2016, Gusto, a software mogul based out of San Francisco and founded in 2011, announced the over-$1 billion company had implemented a “no shoe” policy to help employees feel more relaxed while at the office.

While driving barefoot can decrease the amount of accidents caused by the catching of sandal straps and shoelaces on the brake or accelerator, Utah officials are still asking drivers to wear shoes.

“Utah law does not require that shoes be worn while operating a motor vehicle,” according to a statement on the Utah Department of Public Safety website. “However, common sense should prevail and shoes should be worn. It is much easier and safer to operate a vehicle while wearing shoes.”

Driving barefoot could be just as dangerous as driving with improper footwear and could lead to legal action in the case of a collision, according to a statement on Orem’s Brent Brown Toyota website.

Fluids near the pedals, including sweat, can increase the chances that a bare foot will slip on the brake or accelerator. Shoes and socks could also get caught under the gas or brake pedal, impeding the driver’s ability to accelerate or brake.

Additionally, if a driver becomes involved in a vehicle collision while driving without shoes or socks, officials could cite the driver for reckless driving if they determine that driving barefoot was the cause.

Instead of driving barefoot, Brent Brown Toyota recommends keeping a spare set of shoes in the trunk of the vehicle to change into if the driver is wearing flip flops, heels or platforms out and about.

To participate in the annual barefoot challenge, Utahns can snap a picture of themselves driving barefoot — after they have parked or before they begin to travel — and post it to any social media using the hashtag #IDriveBarefootChallenge.