Drivers around the world have endorsed the “red cars get more tickets” theory for years. The common item missing from each version is a substantiated fact. Some of the reasons for the supposed disproportionate numbers of tickets issued to red cars seem plausible. Some are outright ridiculous.
Of the more believable explanations, one offers the idea that red cars are more noticeable due to their bright color, and catch the attention of police officers more frequently. This sounds well-founded, and I suspect most people would accept this rationale. However, according to color experts, the most perceptible colors reside toward the middle of the color spectrum, such as yellow and bright green. Red sits on the low end of the color spectrum, making it one of the first colors to disappear from our vision in non-ideal lighting situations.
My favorite quasi-scientific myth proposes that red actually looks faster than other colors when it moves. Relying on convoluted, out-of-context “scientific” principles, proponents of this theory believe that just as an approaching siren changes its audible pitch, a red car changes its color intensity, making it appear to travel faster than its actual speed. This theory has at least two flaws. Our ears hear an audible difference in approaching and departing sounds because sound travels relatively slow. Light travels so fast that the speed of even the fastest car wouldn’t affect how we perceive the color of the car. And this maybe the most obvious problem – What about the other colors? Even if we could perceive a variation in color because of the movement of a vehicle, that alteration would affect every color, making the theory irrelevant.
The most comedic reason I’ve heard that red cars get more tickets comes from the belief that police officers have converted the pool hall game of snookers into a traffic enforcement contest. Since the game of snookers has more red balls than any other color, officers must cite a disproportionate number of red cars in order to get a high score.
A more practical approach to explaining why red cars might get more tickets involves looking at what kinds of cars get painted red. How many red sedans and mini-vans can you spot driving down the highway? Now how about red sports cars? I suspect that if lots of light-weight, high horse-power cars are red, we might see a higher percentage of red cars getting tickets.
But even that theory is suspect. Maybe red cars don’t actually receive more tickets. According to one study, red cars account for 14 percent of all cars on the road, and receive 16 percent of issued tickets. While that study does show a slight disadvantage toward red cars, the numbers of cars sampled was small enough to make a two percent difference insignificant.
Probably the best way to determine if law enforcement officers prefer to issue tickets to red cars would be to ask them. As opposed to the variety of reasons why red cars might get more tickets, officers responded unanimously, essentially stating, “We issue citations for violations, not colors.” Rather than spend time and energy trying to decide which car color will most frequently go unnoticed by traffic cops, drivers might have more success avoiding tickets if they chose to obey traffic laws.
“Officers stop red cars more often” or “Officers watch for red cars” is one of those truisms we all accepted but was never based in fact. Twenty or thirty years ago it was funny, probably because more Corvettes or other sportscars that the average joe couldn’t afford were red, but today, with more drivers, cars, more vehicle miles traveled, people owning more than one car, and highly trained officers, it’s just an old husband’s tale.