Here’s one for Unca Cecil.
There have been rumors for years that Cops pull over & ticket certain color cars more than others.
Red is often mentioned.
Is this true? Hard fact true? With evidence?
And, what color car gets pulled over the least?
I might be car shopping in 2017, so this could be helpful.
I’m not sure it matters any more since it seems like all new cars are White,Black or Silver/grey
I went to traffic school a few months ago to clear a ticket, and the instructor told us that red & black cars are pulled over the most frequently. But he said it had less to do with the color and more to do with the fact that sports cars get pulled over the most, and they tend to be red or black in color. No cite and no idea if he is right about this.
So, now, fear of police abuse is influencing the market decisions of law-abiding citizens.
What can we learn from this?
And, at “traffic school”, what did you learn that was useful about the police?
My cop friend told me that when they do roadside checks, they tended to pick out cars that were non-standard in some way. Some things were a guaranteed stop: tinted glass on front windows; lowered suspension and flared wheel arches. Of course they also had an ANPR equipped van up the road to spot anyone with no MOT, insurance or tax.
In uk, red, because snooker.
WE have a red Prius, made famous in the bank robber commercial first aired at Superbowl. We named him ‘Brec’, for “Bank Robber Escape Car”. We see many other red Priuses every day on the road. None of them have been pulled over by police, since that might seem to be an object of derision from other policemen, I think. Or, perhaps, they are tired of hearing about the 50mph and the expectation they will last 400000 miles.
Or, fear of proper police scrutiny is influencing the market decisions of law-breaking citizens who don’t want to get caught.
I have driven a red BMW in the manner red BMWs were built to be driven for the last decade or so. The one time I was stopped I was being passed on the right by a gray family wagon as the cop’s lights lit up.
Make of that what you will.
What I make of it is that the odds on getting stopped are tiny. No matter how richly you deserve to be stopped every single day. So tiny that even if, arguendo, a bright car tripled my odds of a traffic stop I’d still rather have a red car than a stupid tan/gray/white one. Thrice zero is still zero.
My wife’s car is silver/gray. Not because she wanted that color, but because that type wasn’t available in any more exciting colors. I’ve nearly been hit while driving her much larger car more often than I’ve nearly been hit driving my own. Despite driving mine 5-10x more than I drive hers. Why? IMO it’s because the damn thing is invisible. People don’t see gray vehicles.
So it’s red for me. Defeat the larger threat, not the smaller one.
Moderator Note
What we should have learned long ago, jtur88, is not to make political potshots in General Questions. No warning issued, but let’s keep responses factual.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Totally anecdotal but both of my last two cars have been sports cars. The one I owned prior was a two door coupe and bright yellow and I got pulled over constantly and got several tickets. The car I have now is a deep blue and although a 4-door sedan it is a LOT faster than the yellow one was but I haven’t had a single ticket although I did get pulled over once but was let go with a warning even though I was driving way over the speed limit. I think the less flashy color along with the sedan looking like a more mature car both have something to do with it.
Lovely. I think this needs expanding upon for the benefit of non-UK Dopers: Snooker is like Pool but a little more complex. Basically there are 15 red balls, 6 coloured balls, and a white cue ball, and you have to pot (sink) a red ball before you can pot a coloured ball. Additionally, the coloured balls have to be potted in sequence, and you can’t take a coloured ball off the table until all the red balls are potted.
With Police Radar Gun Snooker, the balls are cars, except for the cue ball and cue which are combined in the radar gun. The Police strenuously deny that they ever play this game, but I know if I was a bored copper standing by the side of the road I would want something to relieve the tedium.
nm
The police in my city pull over all kind of cars and it has nothing to do with the color of the cars. I see cars in a lot of colors , I have been seeing companies vans being pulled over more often . One had in bold letters the word ’ Reliable ’ on the side of it and they were getting a ticket ! LOL!
I’m not sure if this is a serious question or snark, but I didn’t really learn anything that was useful about the police during traffic school. Except things I knew already…e.g. don’t start swearing at the cop and telling him your taxes pay his salary. One guy in our class did this in an attempt to get out of his speeding ticket and got warned that if he continued, he’d get the ticket as well as a citation for disorderly conduct.
You might care to speak to your insurer about car colour anyway: colour affects crash risk. Cite.
Note that the studies are old, as is the article.
Are you sure the rumor isn’t about the color of the driver?
'case that sure matters.
I think the California Highway Patrol did a study on this and determined that the color “stupid” got stopped more frequently.
Really? Sit on the medium strip of a highway day or night and tell me what race the driver is from 1500-2000 feet. That’s about the average distance I clock cars with laser. I’ve made my decision to stop or not long before I have any idea who or what’s driving.
In my experience there is absolutely no correlation between the color of the vehicle and the frequency such vehicles of that color get stopped. If I were to attempt a matrix using all my stops on car colors and frequency such colors are pulled over it would be the same as doing it for what lottery numbers are drawn. The conclusion wouldn’t tell us anything except randomness and the entire exercise would be pointless.
You know some entrepreneurs have already solved that problem right?