Blue is the new red

When I was young and rebellious (I was never rebellious), I heard that red cars were more likely to get pulled over.

Don’t believe it, kids.

I owned red cars for 16 years, and I was pulled over exactly once while driving one. I was pulled over twice in my dad’s blue jeep. (Plus, he got a photo-ticket in the mail once because I ran a light in his jeep, but I don’t think color was a factor that time.)

But get this, I have been pulled over twice in the past three months in my new little blue car. That’s right, I got another speeding ticket today.

I was so bewildered, I handed the cop my credit card instead of my driver’s license.

It was on a two-lane county highway and once again, I had no idea I was speeding. (That’s not going to make a very good defense, is it?) This is a highway I have driven many times during the past five years, and usually, I feel like somebody’s grandmother, because cars pass me all the time. So imagine my surprise to learn that there’s a stretch where the speed is reduced from 50 to 35 mph. (What? Like there’s a sign somewhere that tells me this?)

I was traveling 49 mph.

Now, I can’t say that I actually knew the speed limit was 50 mph on most of that highway, but I likely would have maintained that speed the whole rest of the drive, 1 mile under the speed limit. If I hadn’t been pulled over and issued a ticket, so that I had to talk on my cell phone to my Mom, crying, the rest of the way.