Hummer drivers get more tickets from police
BY TOM INCANTALUPO | tom.incantalupo@newsday.com January 15, 2009


What is it about those Hummer drivers?

A company that helps auto insurers spot high risks says in a new report that drivers of the H2 and H3 are ticketed by police at more than four times the rate of the average driver - the highest of models it studied.

But contrary to the stereotype of the aggressive sport utility vehicle driver, the report by ISO Quality Planning of San Francisco also found that drivers of Chevrolet Suburbans and Tahoes, big SUVs that share structural and mechanical basics with the H2, are among the least likely to get tickets for moving violations, based on a study of tickets issued nationwide in a 12-month period ended last year by drivers of more than 1.7 million vehicles.

Why the difference? Quality Planning executives can only guess. "The sense of power that Hummer drivers derive from their vehicle may be directly correlated with the number of violations they incur," president Raj Bhat said in statement. "Or perhaps Hummer drivers, by virtue of their driving position, are less likely to notice road hazards, signs, pedestrians or other drivers."

On Long Island, homebuilder and renovator Steve Nemiroff of Roslyn Heights said yesterday he has never been ticketed for a moving violation in 163,000 miles of driving the 2003 H2 he bought from North Bay Cadillac Hummer in Great Neck. And he said he does feel safe behind the wheel. "No matter what the weather or where I am," he said, "I never worry about me getting hurt."

Quality Planning said other vehicles whose drivers attract above-average numbers of tickets are those that appeal to young people, especially the Toyota/Scion xA, xB and tC; and at least two that appeal to auto enthusiasts, the Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG and CLS63 AMG.

Quality Planning's survey isn't the first to single out the drivers of Hummers; the Highway Loss Data Institute, a suburban Virginia-based group affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, says on its Web site that H3s have a "substantially worse than average," rate of claims for property damage, though not for other types of claims.

The institute says the larger Hummer H2 has a substantially worse-than-average record for property damage and also for bodily injury and even fire and theft claims.

Drivers of these vehicles get the most tickets: *
Hummer H2, H3
Scion tC
Scion xB
Mercedes CLK63AMG
Toyota Solara Coupe
Mercedes CLS63AMG
Scion xA
Subaru Outback
Audi A4
Toyota Matrix

Drivers of these get the least:
Jaguar XJ
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Tahoe
Chevrolet C/K 2500/3500 pickup
Buick Park Avenue
Mazda 6
Buick Rainier SUV
Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan
Buick Lucerne
GMC Sierra C1500 pickup

*In order, based on percent of average rate per 100,000 miles driven

Interesting that the Hummer H2,H3 is grouped together, although it is based on two completely different platforms but the xA and xB are separated. Also, the two Chevy and two GMC trucks on the least ticketed cars are all basically the same thing. Hmmm....

Dang it!

I was just coming here to post this same dang article!

so the po-pos don't like Scions? I'm proof, I got tagged for tinted headlights, running foglights, and too dark of tint...Damn can't they worry about murderers and drug pushers...no they have to mess with young people who arent in gangs and just buy lights for there vehicles they worked hard for! Man thats a touchy subject for me.

^x10!

x2^
You would think the 5 0 have bigger things to worry about.
Speeding I can understand, but lights and tint and exe. is just a waist of time and money for all.

Dang it!

I was just coming here to post this same dang article!

Dammit, me too. :(

I wish the article had specified Gen 1 vs. Gen 2 on the xB...pretty significant difference in demographic there. I'm assuming it refers to Gen 1, since the xA is mentioned, and with sales the way they are, I can't imagine there's even enough Gen 2 xB's out to make a significant difference.

I can see this. My off-the-line acceleration is hardly epic, but in the higher gears it's verrrryyyy easy to drift upward and not be aware of it.

Once I was driving through rural Wisconsin at like 2:00 in the morning, and a Camry went whipping past me. I just sort of fell in behind him (it's called "velocitation"), and when I looked down expecting to see 75 or 80 MPH, my speedo read 104, and climbing. HOLY SPEED VIOLATION, BATMAN! :nails:

Good thing the po-leece didn't see me. I guess they were further up the road, ticketing a Hummer. :rofl:

Idk, I personally have no problem with cops, I roll illegal tint, and I only get messed with if i mess with them, I guess its just my bubbly personality!

that explains alot....

I have been pulled over 3 times and no tickets yet, knock on wood.

I'm not married to a 5 0 so i am never "bubbly" with them...Your views will change once you get profiled by that one jealous mentally abused city figure disguised to "serve and protect"...'nuff said.

O trust me, I get profiled all the time, ___ college kid, I'm supposed to be a constant drunk driver all the while burning churches and sodomizing people... Most of the cops I talk to are pretty cool, I just don't do anything to ____ em off, and when I did, I got bit. I made a face at a cop through my tint, and he ticketed me for tint, now I don't do it anymore, simple as that

Dang STNC you are such a deviant, how dare you ! lol They see the purple drank cans rolling out of your car when you open the door, and that is enough reason to harass you. :rofl:

What can I say...I like to slow my roll

scion is on a lot of "top", "best" or "most" lists....sometimes good, sometimes bad

Well you have to look at it this way:

The tC is one of the safest cars
It is one of the most expensive to insure
It almost the most ticketed car out there

Wanna know why?
Because young people buy them, because they are safe and customizable, but they are traditionally the more inexperienced drivers, so they cost more to insure and typically get more tickets....

Do parking tickets count?

I got 3 of those in 5 day week.....damn yellow curb.

Ticket wise; i've been pulled over twice in a 6 month period, one for speeding 41 in a 25; I was on my way to orientation and just moved to the area, that's no excuse but oh well, I learned were the speed traps were quickly. The 2nd last week for allegedly running a stop sign which I did not do.

I have been pulled over several times for suspected DUI... Too bad i am straight edge... lol I guess if you dont use ur blinker at 2am that means ur drunk... They never said anything about my mods except how much and if i did it myself... Its all about respect i guess or the luck of the draw...

so the po-pos don't like Scions? I'm proof, I got tagged for tinted headlights, running foglights, and too dark of tint...Damn can't they worry about murderers and drug pushers...no they have to mess with young people who arent in gangs and just buy lights for there vehicles they worked hard for! Man thats a touchy subject for me.
I've been stopped a few times, once for no front plate. Second time, a state cop pulled me over after following me for more than a mile and even stopping behind me at a red light - when the light turned green, he bagged me. My 'serious' offense was going 55 in a 50, so he said - wow, what a menace to society. Obviously ran my plate while he was behind me, because as soon as he stopped me, he walked to the front to see if I had a plate - I didn't (looks so much better without it!). He was obviously profiling - lowered import, tint.......must have been a bit surprised when I rolled down the window and he saw a grey haired near 50 year old driving. Still gave me a ticket though, ahole. So it's not just you young guys, don't feel bad. :tap:

......must have been a bit surprised when I rolled down the window and he saw a grey haired near 50 year old driving. :

That might have been the reason he gave you the ticket; was expecting someone else and thought damn eff it you get one.

I got one under my belt. 49 in a 30. :doh:

I ran a red light....well I actually crawled through it...it was 3am and I was lost, drove halfway through it on idle, stopped, and kept goin, figured I wouldn't back up and wait....o well

i got a speeding ticket a week after geting my 2nd gen

so the po-pos don't like Scions? I'm proof, I got tagged for tinted headlights, running foglights, and too dark of tint...Damn can't they worry about murderers and drug pushers...no they have to mess with young people who arent in gangs and just buy lights for there vehicles they worked hard for! Man thats a touchy subject for me.

I have never seen a 1st gen xb (or xa) pulled over-I have seen plenty of tC owners that could have been pulled over (not my own judgement but they have been driving way over the speed limit, no signals and rolling through reds-hate to say it but mostly youngish girls driving)

It's those idiots in the mini vans on the freeway doing like 90-why don't they ever get pulled over????!!!!

The cops can't catch up to the mini-vans going that fast so they pull over a similar car they can catch...the look-alike xA or xB.

Only pulled over 2 times,,, 1st time the cop wanted to see what kind of car I was driving,, 2nd time thought that I was a kid "joy riding" after curfew..!
LOL

I'm going to have to echo that the Scions tend to be driven by the younger crowd as far as tickets go. Look at the least ticketed list. Their target audience is a bit more . . . refined . . . like cheese or wine.

interesting; surprised to see the xa on there. if was in my area it would be all hondas, wrx's and evo's

This made the local news here in So Cal... just seen it on TV and they only mention the H2, H3 and the tC...

pulled over once.. unfamiliar road goin 56 in a 30.. thanks god for the military id card haha he just told me to drive safe hahaha

Its all those young girl drivers :tap: my Gf scares the crap out of me in her tC...Im basically like this in the car. :pray:

I got pulled over going 36 in a 25, and the car in front and behind me were doing the same...

The cop thought I had all these illegal mods because he's never seen a 'box.

guilty....got pulled over for rolling through a stop sign

Way to be statistics guys!

I got pulled over in my xa for having amber windshield washers, but no ticket. Other than that, never been pulled over in my xb2, blown tacoma, benz 240d, ford e250 van, various rental cars, camry, carolla, yaris sedan, matrix s awd, nissan murrano, jeep commander, or my parents suzuki sidekick. I keep up with traffic and in those cases do not look at the speedo.

When I first started drivin my tacoma the accelerator cable was out of adjustment, so it shifted all wrong. So, on wet pavement it would easily squeal tires. I had a state trooper behind me at a stop light, gave it gas at green and just sat there as it squealed and went to 3 grand. I just released the gas and expected to see the blue lights pop on. nothing happened, I tried it again after I started rolling and went about my way.

Way to be statistics guys!

written warning for loud exhaust to help the ISP trooper reach his quota :) really wish i had that recorded lol

i was goin 80 on a 55 on the way back from snowbarding and passed an undercover who was going speed limit. He didnt do anythin at first so i thought it was just a car, but he didnt lose me. as he was catching up i noticed it and turned off the cruise control but he turned on the lights by then and caught up and i stopped. my record was clean and since the car was dirty he didnt notice any mod haha and said stop passing cops and gave me a warning hehe

haa, i got pulled over with 6 violations against me in november.

cross double yellow
38 in a 30
music wayy to loud
no turn signal right turn
no turn signal left turn
blew a stop sign...

but fortunate for me i was pulled over by the chief of police...

he was sooo ____ed. :rofl:

but the funny thing is that i didnt get a ticket, cuz i work on all of the town vehicles at my work

ive gotten pulled over 4 times and gotten 4 tickets...3 of them for speeding like 6-10 over.
::edit:: i got so frustrated reliving those events i forgot to add that yeah...that article stands correct because I am the statistic lol.

woot, I'm a statistic :tap: 3 tickets...2 were for speeding :rofl:

Well, i'm 17 and i've got 0 tickets so far. Hopefully this doesnt jinx it :pray:

3 tickets in the tc so far

0 for my XBs. just parking tickets, but i never pay them

I'm going to have to echo that the Scions tend to be driven by the younger crowd as far as tickets go. Look at the least ticketed list. Their target audience is a bit more . . . refined . . . like cheese or wine.

You mean moldy or fermented?

just got pulled over last night. alone minding my own business following everything the car in front of me did and got slammed for failure to use turn signal and careless driving? said i was speeding and needed to use my turn signal to go straight on a road that has an off ramp... parents are ____ed off about all the BS tickets these local police are giving me so now i might have to sell my car.

-sucks bigtime

I got pulled over for having Toyota badges. The cop followed me, ran my plate, and thought I was using stolen plates because it belonged to a Scion.
Said he never knew what a Scion xA was so he pulled me over. I was already late for work and it just didn't help.

ROFL! Sorry about it making you late, but that's pretty funny!

though out the summer in my home town i was pulled over once and or twice a week . by the same 3 officers in my tc. :P i thought it was hilarious because they thought i was slangin crack haha then thought i was drunk . when you get to the point to where when the cop pulls you over and says your full name and asks you how you doing and goes " still see you havent fixed that stuff we talked about.. so when are you going to change your exhaust and put a plate on the front ? and take that cover of your rear plate and turn your bump down ?" and the cop did say "bump" haha never got a ticket for any of that tho but i did get ticketed for :
110 in a 40 :P (only reason cause a ford focus was messing with me and i wanted to blow by his a** ..ricer :tap:
illegal pass on double solid
plate cover
being a bada** on a Saturday night or as they call it bein suspect

damn

its not as bad as being the top ___ car's list... :doh:

no tickets in my two Scions, but I see by reading this why it's got such high insurance. I just don;t drive fast or not use my turn signal. do I have illegal things done to my car? yup. is there a reason to get stopped for them? nope. I don't drive dumb. Well, I did spin the xD but I didn't get caught. thanks guys!!

so the po-pos don't like Scions? I'm proof, I got tagged for tinted headlights, running foglights, and too dark of tint...Damn can't they worry about murderers and drug pushers...no they have to mess with young people who arent in gangs and just buy lights for there vehicles they worked hard for! Man thats a touchy subject for me.


lol.. I ran into something similar as well.. I got pulled over last week by a paddy wagon.. They said my headlights were illegal, came back && handed me 4 summonse... 1 for EACH tint.. (well 2 front windows) && 1 for EACH headlight.. WTF.! which i thought was.. Ridiculous.. He def needed to meet that quota.. then.. 2 days later.. pulled over again for tints.. But got lucky cuz I asked for a break since I recently just got a ticket for em.. :tap:

&& I also got pulled over once cuz the cop claimed I ate a red light.. He popped a violent U-Turn && I knew he was coming for me, so I stopped b4 he even got to me.. I positively knew I didn't. What sucked was that it was his word against mine && I know that I would lose without even doing anything! So he asks for all my stuff then tells me.. "Now that I think of it, the light was probably green.. The roads are wet, stay in the light.." IDK what that last part meant.. But I was like.. :? Uhm. Ok. BYe. -Stereotypical coupe pull over.

Question ! In NY.. Do they have to use that tint meter machine or not anymore? Cuz wtf.

ah ____. i'm one of those statistics.

I can relate had an 03 matrix i've been ticketed for illegal tint 5 times, once twice in the same week. Speeding 41 in a 35 (wasn't going that fast since light was red ahead of me). twice for exhaust too loud, beat those charges since va has no db level limit set. Reckless driving a marine in a turbo civic blew right past me on the 610 bridge in stafford east bound on the west bound side a cop had someone pulled over giving them a ticket. He then chased me down about 5 miles later in my neighborhood and accused me of racing when i told him that i wasn't because i was passed standing still he said he didn't see the other car because of the median wall there and the civic was lowered and jumped on 95 northbound. Needless to say my trix was still stock height radiant red tinted out that's all he saw with axle back exhaust and stock steelies at that time. The funny thing though i had a 98 civic hatch sohc no vtec Gude head package fully tuned for racing i never got a ticket in that was my daily driver

I cant speak for the rest of the country, but Northern VA is strick. I am in central va and have no problems, then again I obey the traffic laws on surface streets, I just ignore the speed limit on the highway.

Cops look for 2 reasons to pull you.

1. speed
2. failure to signal
3. running, rolling a stop sign. I stop 1 seconds, then drive off.

Been pulled over twice in mine. Once the cop in a small town wanted to actually look at it. I let him drive it even. he was polite and said are you in a hurry. I said no, and the ?'s started after that. The second time wasn't so nice. I was pulled over for window tinting which my tint is supposedly legal in this state. I was on my way to work and this cop must of had nothing better to do. i was pulled out of my car and asked if I had any weapons or drugs in the car. I was like no, and he asked for search. I said yes. Well fishing under the seat he found a keychain pocket knife. This thing was an inch long and so dull i could saw on my wrist for an hour with no blood. From there on I got the third degree. I was then asked if I had marijuana in the car? I was like do you F*&#ing smell marijuana in the car. All your doing is making me late for work! Needless to say after he totally dug out every possesion in the car looking for non-existant drugs and weapons I was given a warning for tinting and allowed to continue to work. Worthless cop!

Not surprised Scions are ticket targets. :lalala: Considering mostly young people drive them and many are highly modded out. I got pulled over once and the cop expected a young punk to be driving. :doh:

Well gotta throw in my $0.02 in this discussion to concur with the data findings.
Since I purchased my tC back in 2005,
I have been the recipient of:
6 Speeding Citations
3 Non-Moving Citations "No visible front License Plate"
4 Non-Moving Warnings "No visible front License Plate"
1 Non-Moving Warning "Excessive Exhaust Sound"
All Citations either DISMISSED or DEFFERED. (Defensive Driving bores me so I don't bother)

Points on my License -> 0
Mileage on my tC->92K
Contempt for Traffic Law Enforcement-> Very High

The tC is being unfairly profiled. :P

OF COURSE PEOPLE WITH BUICK RAINEERS GET THE LEAST NUMBER OF TICKETS - IT'S BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY 5 OF THEM ON THE ROAD!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

the point i am trying to make is that i hope they also made the correlation that the most ticketed cars on the road (again, for the most part) are also the ones that have sold the most. thus, there would be more of them on the road. hummers are everywhere, i see solara's a lot too......

happy to say I have never been pulled over in my tc, and we've been together since 2006

I was stopped 3 times in my Gen1 TCM xB....2 warnings...1 actual ticket (on deferral right now) I had a lot of mods, but nothing too crazy. I traded last fall for an xD RS 1.0...15% on the windows, 10" eyebrow, a big 36" Scikotics sticker on the back window, Hot Lava color, lowered, TRD exhaust...I have even driven with my green underglow on (oops)...So far never even get a 2nd glance by all the 5-0 I have passed on the highway or had pull up behind me. Who would have thunk....I hope my luck holds!

Never been stopped in the xB, and I have all sorts of mods. But I don't drive fast, I always use my blinker (it is only inches away from your finger after all lol) and I don't follow too close. It's all good though, to each his own! :P

Yeah me too man. I've never been pulled over in the Xa. It's not like the car is stock either.

i have nothing but speeding tickets =( most of em are out of town speeding tickets too

I got pulled over 2 time in my Xa. One for speeding and one for random drug check. Didn't get a ticket at either. As for parking tickets I quit counting at 71 in 1 month. There was no parking at the local collage by the buildings but for the teachers, so I would hop the curb and park in the grass next to the buildings. So I would get tickets every day. Best part was I was doing work for the university as well as attending classes so all I had to do was take the the tickets to the dean's office and they would have the campus police dismiss all of them. Campus police started to recognise my car and left me alone but the student workers that did the parking tickets never seemed to learn, even with a contracter permit in the window. :rofl:

Now with my Xd I have never been ticketed.

Speeding 73 in a 70 going through Indiana from MI back to GA i got a warning ticket as a trade off for letting them search my car for illegal stuff like drugs and large amounts of money........

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_044067b36a5e07ad73929cb663e50799.jpg

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/66/l_a1e884aed15211d9f491dfca739f463d.jpg

Those photos bring back memories of when they did mine. Looks like you got lucky tho. No dog. They let the drug dog go into my car. I was picking dog hair out for weeks.

Speeding 73 in a 70 going through Indiana from MI back to GA i got a warning ticket as a trade off for letting them search my car for illegal stuff like drugs and large amounts of money........

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_044067b36a5e07ad73929cb663e50799.jpg

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/66/l_a1e884aed15211d9f491dfca739f463d.jpg

damn man. That is some bull.

yea they kept me in a tick infested field with some another cop tryin to get smart with me....boi did i bite my tongue.....

^ damn that totally sucks man! i f'in hate cops.... uneducated and barbaric but give ppl like that a gun and a badge and have them push honest and hard working americans around like they're bullys.... =/

i got a ticket helping an older man through a turnstyle at a train station here in nyc. and when i told the cop what happened and he replies 'nice story - tell that to the judge if you want to fight it.'

=/

You got pulled for doing 73 in a 70 zone??? I bet your speedo is of more than that at 70.

You got pulled for doing 73 in a 70 zone??? I bet your speedo is of more than that at 70.

my speedo reads in Km/H......i also had GPS tellin me my actual speed.....the cop precented no argument after i argued my speed against his.....he just basically shut up once i argued my speed of 73 to his 75+ i was in a group of cars goin the same speed....and getting passed....he didnt clock me nor did he show any proof of me speeding hence the warning ticket

lol i got pulled over just 2day @ about 1am.. Long story short.. like 7 cops came to my car && asked for license && registration && saw that i had a PBA card.. Cop left, came back.. && said "ok, you're good."

I dont even know y i got pulled over.. Thank gawd for PBA carDs..

lol i got pulled over just 2day @ about 1am.. Long story short.. like 7 cops came to my car && asked for license && registration && saw that i had a PBA card.. Cop left, came back.. && said "ok, you're good."

I dont even know y i got pulled over.. Thank gawd for PBA carDs..PBA card??? Pro Bowlers Association card? :rofl:

:eyebrow:

Got to know a cop to get a pba card. :bow:

Last time I got a ticket was before most of you were born:silly: