PeterHyatt

Where you live, do you feel that MB (C Class for us, here) are more likely to be pulled over than other cars? I think this may vary, greatly, from state to state.
I was just reading "the smaller the town, the larger the badge" and think it may have application to MB cars in locales where MB is relatively rare.

I have also found many who say "red is pulled over than most other colors" while other sites emphatically say "That red cars are pulled over more than others is a myth..."

Your thoughts?

LogicalApex

I haven't been pulled over yet in my C300. But MB is very common here in Philadelphia. I have had my C-Class for 3 months.

I'm sure it will happen though...

Funkwagen

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...kets/16490255/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29141982 This one is interesting, the main pic is an MB and none are actually mentioned..

http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/13/car...ons_slide.html This one lists a few mercs! Mostly AMG

No idea how accurate the sources of information for these articles are, but I have noticed here that most cars getting pulled over are older vehicles, riced out ****boxes, or larger vehicles.

I was pulled over in the summer on a country road, but I was the only car and doing 40km/h more than the speed limit so I pretty well deserved that one.

PeterHyatt

I've been going through these two, and wondering how much a local culture and population impacts statistics.

Here, the most I see pulled over are pick up trucks and since moving here, I have noticed that the pick up truck is very popular, so it stands to reason that percentage wise, they'd be the most ticketed.

Here, there are few MBs. I have seen 8 or 9 in the past two months (Ive been looking!) with most being C300 4Matic.


I wonder how much regionalism fits in to statistics. There are a lot of MBs in Florida, so it is natural that they will be ticketed. The higher models, with powerful engines make speeding comfortable and tempting.

PeterHyatt

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/12/s...her-fun-facts/

Quadcammer

absolutely not, unless you consider that people in MBs may feel entitled to drive as fast as they want and are therefore more likely to be pulled over.

Skyline45

Not here in my experience. Even when I still drove my 560SL as my daily driver I was only pulled over once for speeding. The cop complimented me on my car, and we talked about it for a bit. He then let me go. Given I was only speeding by like 8mph lol. So far nothing in my C300.

aamirani

Not in Kansas. Plenty of Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, and Audis here so it doesn't really stand out.

DameMD

I haven't been pulled over ever since I started buying MB in 2011. This is now my second MB, first being the c250 coupe, and I have not once been followed, checked or any type of run in with law enforcement (knock on wood). Point being is that there are so many MB's out here and from my experience, mostly driven by civilized/much older crowd.

Now for my previous cars, which were mostly Infiniti's with lots of mods and really noisy exhausts, I used to get pulled over a lot. Mostly for exhaust noise, tints, modifications or whatever. Cops always thought i was up to something...

I am glad my ricer days are over....

PeterHyatt

do you think certain known speed cars are more readily ticketed, in your area?

I interview and teach interviewing for a living, and work with law enforcement, so I am, at times, privy to how some think. It is different in different regions.

Locally, a young male has been pulled over 3 or 4 times in the past year and a half in his truck. Each time, it was to measure the size of his tires. I did not understand this until he explained what "Muddin'" is, and how "the bigger the tire, the better..." is in the thinking of these young, mostly male drivers.

Each time he was pulled over, the officers measured the size of his over-sized tires and, according to him (as a local) he claimed that each officer that pulled him over owned, himself, a truck with oversized tire, with some showing obvious envy!

I prefer the story of being pulled over and complimented for having a nice car, better!

I know that some have entitled attitudes with their cars (I saw that in NY) but here, it is more the over-sized trucks that will deliberately take up two prime parking spots to protect against nicks and dents, than the sports car.

These are two very different cultures.


I am getting a radar detector and I won't be putting a "New York Yankees" bumper sticker (nor any thing else, for that matter) on!

I do not fear getting ticketed because I am driving dangerously over the speed limit. I fear getting one in a 25 mph zone that is a known speed trap as it changes quickly from 45 zone...there are many such in my locale. As I said elsewhere, 19 straight years without a speeding ticket in NY, but 3 in 18 months when I moved to Maine. I adjusted and have not had a ticket for 10 years since, but the cultural difference is extreme. Some locales are known to be brutal and when I was pulled over last month, I talked my way out of it, politely insisting that the officer was not truthful, which is a challenge, for which I was prepared to make an argument in court and said so.

I don't recommend this method to anyone!

PeterHyatt

perhaps I am not crazy in thinking that New England is not a good place when it comes to Speeding Tickets:

the link:

https://autos.yahoo.com/news/most-eg...133035069.html


I think that the writer is accurate about tickets and boredom.

Many here would agree with this assertion. Perhaps that is why I went so long without a ticket in NY!

chazzz

Not here in Southern California. If you visit Newport Beach, CA, you will see Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, Ferriaris, Lambos, Bentleys, Rolls Royces almost everywhere. Cops are usually looking for someone who is speeding in a dirty with a missing front bumper Hyundai car. They don't care if Mercedes is speeding down the highway.

JaredP

I've been pulled over without reason in my MB (License and registration, then a thank-you and good bye), hasn't happened to me in any other car.

rookiezxc

I got pulled over in Seattle Downtown the day after I got my car

Well, it's my fault though by entering a do not enter area (timely based), I was not familiar at all with the downtown since I live in the upper part of Washington. The officer was not listening to what I say and gave me a ticket. I felt so sad on that day, especially when your best buddy that you thought know the area well says it's fine to enter the area.

Compared to my experience when I was driving my previous car, 2014 Prius, it's so much different. I admit that I was speeding around 45 in a 35 speed zone. The police came from the opposite lane, turn on their lights. I was about to pull over, but they just gave me a hand gesture signal to slow down, and turn off their lights right away the second I slowed down my car

PeterHyatt

Last week in traveling through airport security, the local TSA made comments about her backpack having NY Rangers logo on it. They were rabid Boston Bruin fans.

She was shortly after chosen for a "random" search, which, of course, was a stressful delay.

Ya never know.

edgalang

Prior to this car, I personally haven't been pulled over by CHP in many many years; however since then, I've been pulled over 3 times in the 2.5 years of ownership. All resulted in fix-it tickets, even though I've had the same mods on other cars prior (no front plate and window tints).

I've since then given up on the no front plate rule and installed it within the grill section with the help of a belt sander.

Carlos.33193

2 years owner of a c250 sport with some mods never been pulled over.

In my previous car a 370Z nismo I was pulled over 15 times in 1 year..

I even got pulled over once and I quote "your car looks like it was going fast".

So yes car brands have a huge impact on you getting pulled over. My driving style has not changed at all.

stratman1954

I live just down the road from Mercedes Benz headquarters in a wealthy section of New Jersey, so there are Benzes all over the place. Even with so many of them around it does not seem like they are police targets. I have never been pulled over in the two years I have owned one.

Schlitter

I was constantly followed in my blacked out lifted ford ranger. Now cops don't even look at me. Probably because I live in a wealthy community

PeterHyatt

A rural area with most pick up trucks, MB is sore thumb!

rookiezxc

LOL, "your car looks like it was going fast"

I remember my friend had a joke about his Prius, "If a cop see me speeding, he's gonna think it's just my eyes, Prius can't go fast"

In fact, I was driving a Prius before I met my C250
I used to go fast around 5-10 mph over speed limit all the time
AND, the car that was getting pulled over was the truck and the WRX in front of me , as I simply slow down and continue to drive

I felt so bad on that day

PeterHyatt

My biggest concern is not highway driving. I set the cruise control for about 5 or 6 mph over the speed limit.

It is the insane number of speed traps and desperation for revenue, combined with a car that few people have here that concerns me.

The Escort Max 2 "LIVE" app likely won't help much in rural areas, or low population areas. Perhaps it is "overkill" in terms of strength, but even on a highway, it is great to pick up a signal a few miles away, rather than what the $89 models do: beep, beep, cop's presence immediately seen!

I have a new job which is going to require lots of travel and this is what contributed to me getting the 300 in the first place: MB comfort.

Now, I just want to be protected from over-zealous fine collections. I don't think any little boy grew up wanting to be a cop saying, "Someday, I will be a grown man, hiding beneath a bush and catch college kids going 10 mph over the limit!"

I feel for them getting stuck doing this. The University of Maine is notorious for traffic revenue. I agree with safety issues; not revenue on the backs of drivers.

My rant. ugh!

rander

I drove an E320 for 11 years in New Orleans area and got pulled over once for an expired inspection sticker (3 mo past due). For past 3 years lived in small city in Virginia driving a 2010 C300 and never stopped. MBs are fairly common around here.

DameMD

L m a o ... Dude this was so me. My g37S coupe look like the bat mobile, lowered, blacked out wheels, smoke headlights and taillights with Fast Intensions full exhaust and all bolt-ons.

I would get pulled over because cops always thought I was racing and that my car "look like it was going fast". I never had a speeding ticket though since I was using a concealed V1 radar detector.

PeterHyatt

Ha!

When I was young I was pulled over driving one of those 'slant 6' things that were held together by bumper stickers!

By the way, the C300 sport sits nice and low. Given that there are so many huge pick up trucks here, it gets really challenging to see over the left or past them, as they block traffic.

I have long complained about a pet peeve in traffic here and was never sure if my wife believed me.

Here, when someone is making a left turn, the car drifts to the middle, rather than to the left, blocking traffic completely from going around, and then makes the left, with traffic backed up.

I was given an explanation that it was a long generational habit stemming from driving horse pulled wagons!

one day while pontificating about how the left turn utterly and needless brings traffic to a halt, someone stood up and said, "Finally! Someone who understands me!"

I said, "Where are you from?"

"Brooklyn!"

he also joined in about the bullying that 4 wheel huge pick up trucks do in the snow, as if they were just waiting for a snow storm to go out and drive recklessly. In many of the small towns, the "thing" to do is to get your vehicle as muddy as possible and then proudly drive down main street, with the muddiest vehicle being "the best."

Few car washes survive here, just a few attached to gas stations.

The Brooklynite refugee also asked about why when a cop pulls someone over, no matter what the speed limit, everyone MUST pull over and at 5mph, take a close look at "the action." I assumed it was boredom. My wife (a local) said, "nope! it is to see if you know the person in trouble!"

I'm not in Kansas, anymore.