It's one of the oldest "truths" in driving: Red cars get more tickets. But is it really true?

Basically, yes. A compilation of stats from various law enforcement bureaus finds red cars get more tickets than any other color... except white. But white cars are much more common than red so, roughly corrected for prevalence, red seems to take the cake as a ticket magnet. The fact that it does is less interesting than why that might be the case; four major factors are likely at work here.

• Red and the background: If any object is arrestingly different from its background, it draws the eye. Graphic designers know this. That's why the CNET logo is red, the Amazon smile is orange and McDonald's arches are bright yellow: No matter where you put them, those saturated brand devices stand out. A red car is no different.

• Red and you: Nobody buys a red car because it was all that was left on the lot. People buy red cars because they are into their car in a sporty way and that may correlate with a certain driving style.

Yellow, lime green and bright orange cars could claim most of the above, but they are very uncommon.

So drive your red car with a bit of circumspection to balance its tendency to get you in trouble!