11/13 Red Car Myth

            I was nine when my family and I went to the car dealership. Walking through all the options I saw black, white, the darkest navy possible, and muted shades of blah. I turned to the right and off in the distance I saw a sea of red. No matter the car type they were all red. I started my trek toward the colorful paradise when my dad stopped me. I was told to stay by their sides. When I asked why we couldn’t go over to see the red cars my dad said, “reds cars bring trouble”. Not really knowing what that meant I asked plenty more questions and finally understood that my dad meant red cars get more traffic tickets.

            I have believed that ever since. I had planned on writing this blog on the statistics of how many red cars get pulled over compared to other color cars and also finding out why. But throughout my research I was proved wrong. The theory that reds cars get pulled over more often is a myth that has been debunked. According to Snopes sources, “Grey cars were the ones that gain a greater share of the speeding tickets" (Snopes). The origin of this myth comes from red cars being more eye catching than other colors. Though this is true, red is a more eye catching color, it does not mean that each time a person sees a red car they are speeding. If that were to be true yellow cars would also be more likely to get a speeding ticket.

            Another theory of why red cars get more tickets is that red cars seem to be going faster and throw off the speedometer cops use to check cars speed. Nope. That is just an excuse people who drive red cars use to get out of tickets. The other reason people believe red cars get pulled over more often is because they believe people who have red car are more tempted to drive faster. I can debunk that by saying both of my grandparents have red cars and their lucky to even get up to the speed limit.

Forbes says that it doesn’t matter about the car color but the car type.

"The most-ticketed car on the road, the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class, is a two-door luxury convertible–suggested retail price for a SL550 Roadster is $102,600. Drivers of these cars are four times more likely to get a ticket than the average person” (Forbes). I don’t know anyone who drives this car but it seems like one that can go fast so the drivers of these cars make sure they go fast. I don’t think it depends on the car type; it depends on who is driving the car and where they are trying to get to. If I am late for work, I’ll probably speed a little. But if the person driving has a lead foot; they are more likely to get a speeding ticket.

Works Cited

Elliot, Hannah. Cars Most Likely to Get a Ticket. Oct 2010. 11 Nov 2015 <Forbes.com>.

Mikkelson, Barbara. Do Red Cars Get More Speeding Tickets? Jun 2014. Nov 2015  <Snopes.com>.