# Car color and tickets?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878 "2002-03-18T15:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tophe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@tophe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tophe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/1 "2002-03-18T15:32:25Z")
Is there any relation between the color of a car and either the number of speeding tickets it gets or how accident prone it is? You’d think insurance companies would care, but I can’t track this info down. Thanks, Tophe. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/2 "2002-03-18T15:55:48Z")
In terms of speeding tickets, I’ve read that red cars most easily attract attention, and silver/gray ones most easily escape attention. In terms of accidents where the car was not seen by other drivers, silver/gray/blue cars are the easiest to overlook (especially in foggy/rainy/overcast weather), yellow and orange are the hardest to miss. I’m sorry I don’t have any sources to cite. So apparently your choice is to either get nabbed by the police or get rammed by other cars. (BG) ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/3 "2002-03-18T17:24:32Z")
Green cars have higher than average claims for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/4 "2002-03-18T17:50:26Z")
[Here’s an odd little site](http://www.colormatters.com/bubdarc2-car.html) that backs up Gary, and has all sorts of other interesting color stuff too. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/5 "2002-03-18T18:03:03Z")
I’ve also heard that red cars get more tickets etc, but I don’t think that it’s because they’re easier to see. My WAG is that people that are prone to drive fast also have a tendency to choose a red car. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/6 "2002-03-18T22:08:57Z")
People subconsciously regard red cars as more aggressive. That is the reason they get stopped more. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/7 "2002-03-18T22:45:15Z")
No stopping or tickets in red. Some in silver/gray. Many in dark blue. Just me. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/8 "2002-03-18T23:07:21Z")
Psychologists say silver and blue are the colours the most psychologically sound people own. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/9 "2002-03-18T23:47:23Z")
Red, Yellow, and White are the three most visible colors. Ergo, if you wish to studiously observe EVERY provision of the Vehicle Code, operate a car of such color. I drive dark blue - I have to Really Try to get nailed. ---
**Author:** ![tophe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@tophe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tophe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/10 "2002-03-19T14:39:46Z")
Hi, Thanks for the responses. You are confirming some of what I thought to be the case. I guess I should’ve been more emphatic about sources, though. I looked at the one site posted and it was all anecdotal. Does anyone know where I can find actual statistics on this stuff? Thanks again for the replies, Tophe. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/11 "2002-03-19T21:22:11Z")
try here: www.dulux.com.au/PaintingYourHome/Colour/psychology\_of\_colour.htm Note the things for red - aggressive, extreme, impulsive, bullying. When you look at a red car perhaps these thoughts are sparked in your head and a police officer may be more likely to stop you cos of it. Just a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/12 "2002-03-19T21:23:37Z")
try here: www.dulux.com.au/PaintingYourHome/Colour/psychology\_of\_colour.htm Note the things for red - aggressive, extreme, impulsive, bullying. When you look at a red car perhaps these thoughts are sparked in your head and a police officer may be more likely to stop you cos of it. Just a possibility. Note BLUE: Lowers blood pressure, cooling and relaxing, antidote for red. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/13 "2002-03-19T21:39:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Does anyone know where I can find actual statistics on this stuff? I’d think that the insurance industry’s actuarial tables would split car color out for you. The trouble is that they don’t seem to be available in a convenient online form. There are books available on the tables. I ran across a few by googling on the words (automobile, actuarial, color, speeding, accident ) or similar. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-color-and-tickets/98878/14 "2002-03-20T05:16:12Z")
The [Newark Star-Ledger](http://www.starledger.com/) did a study in early 1997 (I think) of all the tickets written by NJ state troopers over a two-month period. Among the findings:[ul][li]Red was a very common color. I don’t recall if it was the most common, and I don’t believe they went to the trouble of comparing the percentage of tickets to red cars with the percentage of red cars licensed in the state.[/li] [li]Men got about 57% of tickets. Whether this was due to better driving by women or more lenient treatment of women drivers was beyond the scope of the study, but they did note that a few officers wrote 80-90% of their tickets to men.[/li] There were only ten tickets for people speeding at 56 mph. Eight were written by a single trooper.[/ul] Interesting reading, but unfortunately you gotta pay $7 to even search the [archives](https://search.starledger.com/texis_s/sc/signup/).