If you’re looking to buy a new car, you might be considering getting a red car.
Red is a pretty bold and intense color that symbolizes an interesting spectrum from love and passion to anger and danger!
Red is thrilling, but you might have some worries tied to the idea of owning and driving a red car.
Namely, a fear that you’ll get pulled over more often in a red car than you would in some other color.
This is an urban legend that has plagued red cars for basically as long as red cars have been around, but is there any truth to it?
Do red cars actually get pulled over more? Do police officers really stop people based on car color?
Are Cops Targeting Red Cars?
The answer to if red cars are pulled over by cops more often is both yes and no.
There aren’t really any studies on whether or not red cars get stopped more than any other color.
Anecdotally, people certainly seem to think so, but there’s no scientific proof of that just yet.
In reality, white cars get pulled over the most, and red cars come in second.
The reason white vehicles get pulled over the most is that there are simply more white vehicles than any other color cars in the US.
Why do red cars get pulled over so much?
While red vehicles come second to white, there is still a large number of red cars on the road.
So the number plays a factor in how often they get pulled over; there are just more of them on the road.
This means that red cars get pulled over often because there is a large number of cars in that color and not because of the color of the cars.
Red cars get pulled over quite often still, and part of this is that they’re an eye-catching color, so they’re easier to notice.
More people might just notice when red vehicles are stopped more easily than they do any other color, so it may seem like red cars get pulled over more than other cars when they’re thinking about it.
There’s also the possibility that people hear it so often that they just believe it; they may just have an expectation that red cars get pulled over more often.
Every time they see a red car get pulled over, which is likely due to the number of red cars on the road, it just reinforces that belief.
In the same way, people might only take note when they see a red car being pulled over because of this expectation.
Without any real studies, it’s fun to speculate, but we just don’t know for sure, one way or the other.
Does the car’s make and model matter?
In this case, it definitely plays a part and could even be considered a more significant factor than color.
The Subaru WRX, Volkswagen GTI, and Scion FR-S are actually a few models that are most likely to be pulled over, based on the percentage of cars that have at least one speeding ticket.
Other Contributing Factors
The reason red cars get pulled over quite often is more to do with the drivers than it is to do with the car color.
Bad driving
Red cars are typically sports vehicles and muscle cars, and the kind of people who buy these cars are more likely to engage in aggressive driving behaviors that police officers look out for, which results in more frequent speeding tickets.
These cars are also built for speed and make it very tempting to drive over the speed limit.
Police officers are always on the lookout for people breaking any traffic laws, speeding in particular, so these people are more likely to get pulled over.
The police are also always keeping an eye out for any distracted drivers, and this can include talking on the phone (even hands-free), seeming distracted by passengers, texting and driving etc.
They’ll also be looking out for intoxicated drivers or cars that have mechanical issues.
There are a variety of legitimate reasons that police typically pull people over, but color isn’t one.
Except in the rare circumstance where they’re looking for a car fitting a certain description!
Gender
Men do get pulled over more than women.
Across all age groups, men get 50% more speeding tickets than women do.
This isn’t because men are targeted by police; men just tend to drive faster than women do.
Age
Younger drivers between the ages of 18 and 26 get pulled over more than any other age group for the same reason that they get charged higher premiums; they are very risky drivers.
In fact, young drivers get into more car accidents than any other age group because of speeding and distracted driving, among other things.
Which color cars get pulled over the least?
Grey and Silver color cars get pulled over the least, in third and fourth place after white and red.
The Range Rover, Audi 3 and BMW 320i are all at the top of the list of cars that get ticketed the least.
Final Thoughts
Red cars can get pulled over more than other cars, but that isn’t because there’s a vendetta against red cars.
There are more red, and white, cars on the road than cars of other colors, so you’ll see them get stopped more often.
The police aren’t on the lookout for red cars, but they are looking for cars not obeying traffic laws.
If you’re in a sports car, you might be stopped more often due to the expectation of reckless driving.
As long as you’re not distracted driving or speeding, you should be fine in your red car.
If you do drive recklessly, remember that red makes it easier to spot!