It’s not an uncommon sight to see a pair of handcuffs hanging from the rear-view mirror of a car or truck. It’s most often a man driving the vehicle, but occassionally the cuffs are in (on?) a woman’s car. I don’t think it’s a cop thing, like a police hat band on the rear-view mirror, because I’ve seen it on company-marked delivery and repair trucks as well as on private cars.
So what’s up with that? Is it supposed to signify something particular (the car owner is into bondage?) or is it just an unusual decoration?
Yeah, I think it is a sex thing. Like saying “I am fun in bed, I have these handcuffs”. They are almost never ‘real’ cuffs. Usually plastic or those Kmart metal ones…
I put mine up on the mirror once for a couple says. It was shiny and made a nice decoration. But it was annoying as hell, and I decided it was pretty lame, so I took them down. I would say that this is most definately not a ‘cop’ thing.
Most cops I know who keep cuffs in their private cars keep them where they are accessible. (emergency brake pedal, gear shifter, etc.) Somewhere you can just grab them. On the mirror, you would have to use your key to get the things off, so it’s not practical.
I find it fascinating that so many people hang things (handcuffs, fuzzy dice, graduation tassels, odd trinkets, etc.) from their rear view mirror. It is one of the few American cultural phenomena that hasn’t occurred via a mass marketing campaign.