Cars That Are Cop Magnets?

[jarrod]

I like to drive fast.

I get out of a lot of tickets.

I drive all sorts of things, and ride more than a few sorts of bikes.

All of that said, a great deal of the time I get pulled over not because I'm driving fast, or because of a mechanical violation, but because of the car I'm driving, and the color of my skin. Or some combination thereof.

To be fair, I've been pulled over driving a Ferrari, a Porsche, and a Bentley, simply because the cop wanted to check the car out.....I was kinda cool with that. Certainly didn't have anything to do with the color of my skin, or anything else.....they just "hadn't seen one of these before."

To be fair, I've gotten out of even being written a ticket for driving at an excessive rate of speed, in part because I was sober, in part because of the hour of day, and, in part because of the car I was driving. (Highly modified Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite, 1982, 127 mph at 4:00 AM just off the LIE-Trooper, look at how the car smiles at me-there's no one on the road. I just had to. Wouldn't you? :lol: )

On the other hand, I've been pulled over more than once driving a Mercedes or BMW and the first question out of the cop's mouth-before "License, registration and insurance"-has been "Is this your car?" :lol:


I don't even want to talk about muscle cars, Corvettes or those PowerWagons that I love so much......:lol:

Oddly enough though, I rarely get pulled over on two wheels.......

elder, my man, you don't know how much i feel you on this.

i'll be cruising down the highway, going 60mph to save gas, & i can almost hear the cops thinking, "look at that white guy driving a '96 corolla. who does he think he is?"

i might as well paint a target on my car.

jf

 

[Tez3]

I like to drive fast.

I get out of a lot of tickets.

I drive all sorts of things, and ride more than a few sorts of bikes.

All of that said, a great deal of the time I get pulled over not because I'm driving fast, or because of a mechanical violation, but because of the car I'm driving, and the color of my skin. Or some combination thereof.

To be fair, I've been pulled over driving a Ferrari, a Porsche, and a Bentley, simply because the cop wanted to check the car out.....I was kinda cool with that. Certainly didn't have anything to do with the color of my skin, or anything else.....they just "hadn't seen one of these before."

To be fair, I've gotten out of even being written a ticket for driving at an excessive rate of speed, in part because I was sober, in part because of the hour of day, and, in part because of the car I was driving. (Highly modified Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite, 1982, 127 mph at 4:00 AM just off the LIE-Trooper, look at how the car smiles at me-there's no one on the road. I just had to. Wouldn't you? :lol: )

On the other hand, I've been pulled over more than once driving a Mercedes or BMW and the first question out of the cop's mouth-before "License, registration and insurance"-has been "Is this your car?" :lol:


I don't even want to talk about muscle cars, Corvettes or those PowerWagons that I love so much......:lol:

Oddly enough though, I rarely get pulled over on two wheels.......

Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite, 1982


Know as the frogeye here. I had to throw a bucket of cold water over my other half just now when I told him what you got! LOL! he went out yelling........ I want one!!

 

[elder999]

Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite, 1982


Know as the frogeye here. I had to throw a bucket of cold water over my other half just now when I told him what you got! LOL! he went out yelling........ I want one!!

Nah-that happened in 1982. THe car was a 1960 with the Judson supercharger, and the bigger 1275cc motor.......good times......:lol:

I wouldn't mind another, but doubt I'd fit as well as I did when I was 22....:lfao:

 

[LawDog]

Most Police do want / need a reason to pull a vehicle over however if you want to receive attention quicker drive a vehicle that,
*Is of a very bright color, like fire engine red,
*Has a loud chambered type exhaust system,
*Has a very loud high performance engine,
*Has one of those trunk mount sterio systems, big boomers,
*The vehicles exterior has been really modified.
These are the real things that will help you receive an extra look from an LEO it is not just the make of a car.
Well maybe a "blond driver" who has the top down might get an extra look as well.
:xwing:

 

[seasoned]

I recieved plenty of tickets until I got a high priced car. Once I got a vehicle that cost more than $20,000 I was never pulled over. Cops don't want people who can afford a lawyer to come to court and fight a ticket.

Also a very good point.

 

[Cryozombie]

I drive a camaro. The only times I have been pulled over in it were for mechanical failures: A headlight and my Plate Light. I don't think the fact that I drive a Camaro gets me pulled over... Maybe if it was red, or I drove like Carol.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

If you want to avoid being pulled over by the cops
* Drive a white car, preferably a Ford Taurus, kKar, or any make of station wagon.
* Drive 10-20MPH -under- the speed limit in the left lane
* leave your turn signal on all the time
* dye your hair grey
* Wear flannel shirts
* Make sure the seat belt is hanging under the door.


How many old farts you see pulled over hmmmm?

 

[Tez3]

One thing here that police look for is a very careful driver late at night or in the early hours. When driving it's normal to drive at slightly differing speeds etc but a very careful driver usually means one who has had a few drinks too many and is driving with extra concentration due to being nissed as a pewt.

 

[MA-Caver]

One thing here that police look for is a very careful driver late at night or in the early hours. When driving it's normal to drive at slightly differing speeds etc but a very careful driver usually means one who has had a few drinks too many and is driving with extra concentration due to being nissed as a pewt.

Well a very careful drunk driver I think is a lot better than one who has a mind that there's only one pedal on the floor and stomps on it and tries to over correct their steering the whole time.
But then a really careful drunk driver would have their sober buddy behind the wheel.

 

[Tez3]

Well a very careful drunk driver I think is a lot better than one who has a mind that there's only one pedal on the floor and stomps on it and tries to over correct their steering the whole time.
But then a really careful drunk driver would have their sober buddy behind the wheel.

True enough but they will make a mistake sooner than later, and if they are in a habit of driving drunk because they've not had an accident yet they need to be disabused of that way of thinking. I have heard someone say they actually drive better with a few pints in them before now.

 

[MA-Caver]

True enough but they will make a mistake sooner than later, and if they are in a habit of driving drunk because they've not had an accident yet they need to be disabused of that way of thinking. I have heard someone say they actually drive better with a few pints in them before now.

Yeah I used to think that way too... amazing that I survived this long with that kind of stupid thinking.

 

[redantstyle]

there's more where that came from...

 

[MA-Caver]

there's more where that came from...

Yeah well, as long as alcohol is made that's a given.

 

[Drac]

Sorry...

I for one (and just about nobody I've worked with) let the value of the car decide whether it'll get stopped :shrug:

What he said...I could care LESS what a car costs or the color..The LOUD ground shaking THUMP, THUMP. THUMP of some idiot that gave up his trunk space for speakers that belong on a stage in front of a band always catches my attention..

 

[Archangel M]

Hmmm.."I drive fast a LOT".."but the reason I get pulled over is my skin color"...

Right.

 

[Sukerkin]

**** your experiment.

Top down, broad daylight, in legal compliance with no mechanical failures.

I'll repeat: Is this your car?

That's not very polite, Elder - thank goodness the filter spared my delicate sensibiities.

As to your last, I thought that was a stock opening question. I've certainly been asked it 100% of the times I've been stopped whether in a car or on a bike ...

... and I wasn't driving any fancy-pants-too-much-money-smorgs-mobiles (I've spent less than £1000 total on all the cars I've ever owned).


I can't walk in your shoes, that's for sure but are you certain that you're not letting a popular stereotype sink a little too deeply into your psyche? You're a clever chap but that doesn't mean you can't have a mental blind-spot. I know I certainly have a few that make me less than reasonable on some issues .

 

[Tez3]

It's a standard question, is this your vehicle, basically because if it's not even if you have borrowed it properly you may not be covered by insurance and in this country insurance is compulsory. Thats basically why the question is asked, not because you are thought to have stolen it, thats actually easy to tell now with the automatic vehicle recognition systems available to police these days. A friend of mine borrowed his mothers car, he got stopped as he had lights out and he got done for not having insurance as his mothers didn't cover him. That may seem petty until you consider an uninsured car hits your car you will end up paying for the damage ( or your insurance will and your premiums goes up)

 

[Archangel M]

I have typically already "run" the vehicles plates before I stop it so I know who its registered to. If I have the time I have ran the persons license and warrant checks as well.

I ask "is this your car" because if it is I already know most of what I need to know...if its not the owner I have to run the operator.

 

[elder999]

That's not very polite, Elder - thank goodness the filter spared my delicate sensibiities.

As to your last, I thought that was a stock opening question. I've certainly been asked it 100% of the times I've been stopped whether in a car or on a bike ...

... and I wasn't driving any fancy-pants-too-much-money-smorgs-mobiles (I've spent less than £1000 total on all the cars I've ever owned).


I can't walk in your shoes, that's for sure but are you certain that you're not letting a popular stereotype sink a little too deeply into your psyche? You're a clever chap but that doesn't mean you can't have a mental blind-spot. I know I certainly have a few that make me less than reasonable on some issues .

Well, hardly. I know a few things about experiments, and his is not valid, as it doesn't test all the conditions for a stop-in fact, all it might really prove is that his eyesight isn't that great. I'd suggest that he rent a higher end vehicle for a month, spend two weeks driving it around normally, and two weeks driving it around with blackface theatrical makeup on, and see how much or how little he gets pulled over, but that wouldn't necessarily validate anything either. One everyone can try, though, is to drive through their town, at the speed limit-20-45 mph, and look at the drivers in the opposing lane, and see if they can determine their race under those conditions. Or across an intersection-or at the cross-street lights at an intersection, or when they drive through an intersection. Under most conditions, save the darkest and illegal tint on the driver's side window, one will find that they can easily determine the "race" of the driver. Under some conditions, you might find that you can as easily determine it at highway speeds for vehicles in the opposing lanes, as well as for vehicles traveling in the same direction-sometimes even from behind.


Now, I'll add that I mean no offense to any law-enforcement personnel. I'll point out this post, and add a few things.

Hmmm.."I drive fast a LOT".."but the reason I get pulled over is my skin color"...

Right.

Well, when I get pulled over for driving fast-which is pretty rare for the last 15 years or so-the getting pulled over, not the driving fast-I know it. The cop knows it. Generally, I'm pretty good at getting out of those-either talking the cop out of it or getting the speed he puts on the ticket reduced, and/or getting out of it in court. Last time I got pulled over for speeding was near Alamosa, CO, about three years ago (late 2005). Nothing but me and sagebrush, and I was going about 95, damn the luck. Officer asked me why I was going so fast (this before he asked for license, insurance and registration) and I said I've really gotta pee! He laughed and let me go with a warning when everything checked out....and I'd peed like the proverbial racehorse with both his car doors blocking the view, something I couldn't have done with my car, as it only has two doors.

Bottom line, I may drive fast a lot, but I don't get pulled over for speeding a lot.

Anyway, personal info: when I was in college, I was also in the "used car business," though not in the conventional sense. I bought, sometimes restored and shipped cars to South American countries. Back in the early 80's, I could buy a Trans-Am for about $7,000 and sell it in Venezuela, Columbia or Bolivia for about $25,000. I also did well with a lot of other cars. Occasionally, I'd drive a car around for a while-either because I didn't have enough inventory to ship, or because I just wanted to. I still have a few cars, but I got out of that business just in time for other adventures, like marriage.....:lol:

Now, it's never happened to me in New Mexico-it might have happened once in Denver, I don't know, but in New York and New Jersey, I got pulled over for "driving while black" alot. Typically, I wasn't driving fast-occasionally maybe a tick over the speed limit "in the flow of traffic", but, more often than not,well within compliance, because, unless I'm driving really fast-which I do when I have the road entirely to myself-that's how I roll. Typically, I had no equipment violations. Now, sometimes, sometimes the cops just wanted to check the car out-as in stop me so they could see it up close: this happened with a TVR, and a few other more exotic cars, and it was okay. Sometimes, though, they really figured the guy in the Bentley/Mercedes/Porsche/Ferrari had to be a drug dealer-not a doctor, or a lawyer, or some sort of pro-athlete (I'm a congenital klutz, so there wasn't a chance of that, but I was tall enough and built enough to think as much). More often than not it was some sort of fishing expedition. There are some who'd say it was just good police work-that, odds are a young black man driving that kind of car is up to something-at the very least, I must have stolen it, and if I didn't steal it, it's ill gotten gains of one sort or another.Call it "racial profiling."

I could offer lots of specific examples: once in a Bentley, once in a Porsche, twice in a Ferrari in one week, but the best one is this: I had a BMW 2002-I actually owned three at the time-and was stopped at a light coming out of my parents neighborhood-my old neighborhood. I drove through the green light as a State Trooper pulled up to the now red light on the cross street I was entering-if you've seen a BMW 2002, you know it has a pretty high greenhouse with lots of visibility into the driver's compartment. He turned around and pulled me over. I was going 30 mph in a 30 mph zone, because, of course, I'd just seen him. The car, while pretty cool, wasn't anything extra special-just a 12 year old BMW in good shape. I had no equipment violations, and, when we'd gone through the license, insurance, and registration thing, I asked him why he pulled me over, and he said I just wanted to check you out.

Of course, there could have been some sort of lookout for someone who looked like me-that's happened a few times. Heck, I was gassing up here in New Mexico and had a Pueblo cop ask me if I was a wanted murderer once-luckily, I was wearing my laboratory badge with my photo and name on it, so he could clearly see I wasn't the guy everyone was looking for. I don't think that was the case at that time, though-it was 1983, and the Troopers in the area were known for that at the time, just as the cops on the Jersey Turnpike were known for pulling over black people because it was a drug corridor, and they got quite a few busts that way.

Anyway,I didnt bother asking him why he wanted to check me out;I just wanted to be on my way. I'm pretty sure that my assumption was right on, though, and it's okay, actually. I was polite, he was mostly polite, and I've been in this skin all my life;it's not like things like that are completely unexpected. Hell, I still get followed through department stores until I whip out the plastic.....:lol:

Back on topic, though-all those cars certainly qualified as "cop magnets." That's why my everyday driver is a Saab....:lol:

 

[Big Don]

Mercury Grand Marquis / Ford Crown Victoria loads of cops drive them...