# Any proof that red cars get more tickets **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640 "2008-07-16T03:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/1 "2008-07-16T03:13:41Z")
Inspired by a jest (in a PM) from Rick, is there any evidence to this UL? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/2 "2008-07-16T03:23:04Z")
While not exhaustively researched, it appears to be [untrue](http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/redcars.asp). ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/3 "2008-07-16T08:13:46Z")
You got it wrong. Red cars donā€™t get more tickets. Red cars go faster. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/4 "2008-07-16T11:31:28Z")
Iā€™m sure weā€™ll get the usual complaints about anecdotes not be data but I have had a red acura for 11 years and never gotten a ticket in it (and even got out of one when I probably shouldnā€™t have.) ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/5 "2008-07-16T11:40:08Z")
Communist cars deserve more ticketsā€¦ oh, wait a minuteā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/6 "2008-07-16T12:44:25Z")
[QUOTE=puppygod] You got it wrong. Red cars donā€™t get more tickets. Red cars go faster. [/QUOTE] But only 1" a turn ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/7 "2008-07-16T12:46:53Z")
Isnā€™t it likely that with red being a pretty normal car colour, theyā€™d get more tickets than other colours? Not percentage-wise, but in actual numbers. Just an ideaā€¦ nothing to back it up with Iā€™m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/8 "2008-07-16T12:58:06Z")
A former girlfriend/ fiancee of mine (sometimes referred to in the Fidelius houshold as "the crazy bitch from Jersey) was a firm believer in this. She always seemed put off that I received no moving violations in my red Honda while she seemed to get a speeding ticket every other week in her gray piece-of-crap whatevermoblie. She did not seem to grasp the correlation between speeding and getting tickets, and that regardless of the colour of the car if the driver is obeying the law then the police will not ā€œhassleā€ them. (Whether the colour of the driver is a factor is a subject for a different discussion.) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/9 "2008-07-16T12:59:44Z")
[QUOTE=WormTheRed] Isnā€™t it likely that with red being a pretty normal car colour, theyā€™d get more tickets than other colours? Not percentage-wise, but in actual numbers. Just an ideaā€¦ nothing to back it up with Iā€™m afraid. [/QUOTE] Wormā€“ My unselective observation leads me to believe that the most common colour for cars in the US is grey. I remember back when cars used to come in different colours, but eighty percent today seem to be some shade of grey. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/10 "2008-07-16T13:03:24Z")
OHā€¦ guess car colours sell differently in different countries. Red ones are a dime a dozen in the parking-zones here. And gray? How drab ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/11 "2008-07-16T13:14:46Z")
[QUOTE=puppygod] You got it wrong. Red cars donā€™t get more tickets. Red cars go faster. [/QUOTE] I thought green was the fastest color. Money is green and nothing goes faster than money. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/12 "2008-07-16T13:17:22Z")
I could run a query tomorrow to find out the percentage of red vehicles infringed, but how would I know how many red vehicles are on the road? Hmmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/13 "2008-07-16T13:26:07Z")
Wouldnā€™t that be in DMV-records? I know they have it all on record here, but Iā€™ll be damned if I can find it online ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/14 "2008-07-16T14:22:09Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] Wormā€“ My unselective observation leads me to believe that the most common colour for cars in the US is grey. I remember back when cars used to come in different colours, but eighty percent today seem to be some shade of grey. [/QUOTE] Grey? I see Silver and White and Beige and Metallic Gunmetal, but I almost never see a ā€œGreyā€ car. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/15 "2008-07-16T14:39:10Z")
Approximately 99.99999999999999999% of cars in Sydney these days are some variety of silver. I used to quite like silver as a car colour, but Iā€™m extremely over it. I also used to dislike red for cars, but my current one is red, and I like it _because itā€™s not bloody silver_. I donā€™t get tickets though. Itā€™s an old beater, and even when that particular model was new, it was a thoroughly boring, suburban runabout. I suspect red cars in general might get slightly more tickets, but theyā€™d also be more likely to be sporting cop-magnet bling. ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/16 "2008-07-16T15:09:08Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] I thought green was the fastest color. Money is green and nothing goes faster than money. [/QUOTE] Wow. Imagine how fast would red money go. With flame decals. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/17 "2008-07-16T20:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] Wormā€“ My unselective observation leads me to believe that the most common colour for cars in the US is grey. I remember back when cars used to come in different colours, but eighty percent today seem to be some shade of grey. [/QUOTE] White around here. I counted the cars in a small parking lot not long ago, and of the 29 cars in the lot nearly half were white. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/18 "2008-07-16T21:01:13Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] But only 1" a turn ā˜¹ [/QUOTE] Gotta love any message board where you can find several people in a general interest board that know Warhammer 40K. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/19 "2008-07-17T05:20:12Z")
I had a friend who swore that green cars have more accidents, something to do with people not noticing them due to trees in the background. Or something. She claimed - without a shred of evidence - that insurance companies charged higher premiums for green cars. She didnā€™t even have one, so how she thought she knew I cannot imagine. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640/20 "2008-07-17T13:26:34Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] I had a friend who swore that green cars have more accidents, something to do with people not noticing them due to trees in the background. Or something. She claimed - without a shred of evidence - that insurance companies charged higher premiums for green cars. She didnā€™t even have one, so how she thought she knew I cannot imagine. [/QUOTE] Hey, if you want insanely anecdotal stuff, hereā€™s oneā€¦ Back in the early 80s (when they had those square Ford Falcons here), Ford put out a lot of cars in a type of gunmetal blue. Not a bad colour to look at, but it used to disappear against the colour of the road (especially in shade). I remember one time, I came to a T intersection, looked both ways, saw nothing coming in either direction for a very long way, pulled out, and one of these Falcons was right on top of me - it had come out of a shady spot. A few other times werenā€™t such near misses, but I still noticed that these cars used to appear from nowhere. In those days, I had hawkeye vision too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-proof-that-red-cars-get-more-tickets/456640.md?page=2)