When Is It Illegal to Drive Without a Shirt? (2024)

Is It Illegal to Drive Without a Shirt?

The answer to the question, “Is it illegal to drive without a shirt?” is more complex than it might seem. As a first matter, no state has a law against driving without a shirt. Many of the laws drivers think are in effect do not exist. For example, no states prohibit any of the following driving actions:

• Driving without shoes

• Eating while driving

• Talking on a hands-free phone while driving

However, just because these activities do not violate any state’s criminal laws does not mean you should do them. Driving requires focus. When you do anything potentially distracting to you or other drivers, you could cause an accident that results in serious injuries or fatalities. Aside from the guilt of harming another person, you could be liable for the victim’s losses.

For example, suppose that you get in the car topless with a cold, non-alcoholic drink for a drive to the beach. This is not, by any measure, an unusual situation. However, suppose that you spill your drink while driving and, in response to the cold drink hitting your bare skin, you jerk the steering wheel and sideswipe the motorcycle next to you.

While your nudity might, in itself, not constitute negligence, an insurer or jury might still find you liable for the injuries and property damage you caused. The claimant and their motorcycle accident attorney might argue that your overall actions failed to meet the standard expected of a reasonably prudent driver.

The Role of Insurance in a Crash Caused by Your Negligence

Your auto insurer will pay for any losses up to your policy limits. Thus, you might not have any financial exposure unless the victim’s losses exceed your policy or you were driving while uninsured.

However, after causing a crash that resulted in an insurance payout, the insurance company might decline to cover you in the future. Alternatively, your insurer might raise your premium rates so high that buying insurance becomes impractical.

Potential Criminal Liability

Although no state prohibits driving without a shirt, states do prohibit public nudity. These laws go by many names, including “lewdness,” “indecent exposure,” and “public indecency.” Although it might seem unfair, these laws apply differently to topless drivers depending on the driver’s sex.

Utah’s lewdness statute, for example, prohibits women from exposing their breasts in public. Although the inside of your vehicle might seem like a private space, the windows potentially make it public. As a result, topless drivers in that state might face criminal charges for lewdness.

Colorado’s public indecency statute is arguably broader. Rather than limiting its effect to females, it applies to all intimate parts, including “the breast of any person.” As written, it can include males and females. This means that you could potentially face criminal liability in Colorado for driving topless, regardless of your sex.

Georgia has a broad-ranging public indecency statute that prohibits “a lewd appearance in a state of partial or complete nudity.” Unfortunately, the law does not define “lewd,” but the law could arguably cover any appearance in public while partially or completely nude, even if the person does not engage in any overtly sexual conduct.

Once again, Georgia police could stop you and arrest you for public indecency for driving without a shirt.

Other Risks Under Criminal Laws

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires police officers to have probable cause to pull you over. “Probable cause” means the officer must have a reasonable belief that the driver had committed a crime.

In states with public indecency laws that prohibit public nudity, the police have a baked-in reason to stop you while driving without a shirt. In other words, when a judge asks the officer to explain their probable cause, they will simply point to the public indecency laws. Thus, in states where the answer to the question, “Can you drive without a shirt?” is no, the officer has grounds to stop you.

Once an officer stops you, they can investigate any additional crimes that you may have committed. In other words, driving without a shirt might suggest to the officer that you are intoxicated by drugs or alcohol. The officer will administer field sobriety and chemical tests to determine your level of intoxication.

If you violate the state’s DUI laws, your shirtless driving will result in much more serious DUI charges on top of any public indecency charges.

Police officers can also bootstrap a traffic stop into a search for other crimes unrelated to your public nudity. For example, an officer might smell marijuana or see an open container of alcohol. Even if you are sober, they could arrest you for an open container, possession of drugs or even drug trafficking if they find a high volume of drugs.

Similarly, a police officer can call in your name to search for warrants. If you have outstanding arrest warrants for anything, including unpaid parking tickets, overdue child support or other major or minor offenses, they will arrest you, and you will probably spend some time in jail.

Contact ConsumerShield to Learn More

Whether you face liability for a crash or imprisonment for a crime, ConsumerShield can educate you about the law and refer you to a lawyer to help you. Contact us for a free case evaluation.