File This Under 'Things You Probably Already Know'

By Susie Madrak Saturday Jan 31, 2009 1:00pm

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File This Under 'Things You Probably Already Know' 3:43am
By Susie Madrak Saturday Jan 31, 2009 1:00pm


Well, color me surprised!

People who drive Hummers receive almost five times as many traffic tickets as the average driver, according to a new study.

Quality Planning Corp., which helps insurance companies identify risk, surveyed data from 1.7 million drivers and found the Hummer H2 and H3 are the most frequently ticketed vehicles on the road, surpassing even the 565-horsepower Mercedes CLK 63 AMG. At the other end of the spectrum, the Jaguar XJ GMC was the vehicle least likely to attract the attention of Johnny Law.

The study found those who drive the leviathans get 4.63 times as many tickets as the average driver, something the researchers attribute to the feeling of invincibility that comes from driving a rolling bank vault.

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

Mark S. Foster, author of "A Nation on Wheels: The Automobile Culture in America Since 1945," was even more direct, essentially calling Hummer drivers colossal jerks.

"Hummer drivers feel like kings of the road because of their elevated driving positions," he said. "As these statistics show, they are leading the pack when it comes to violating the law, which may reflect their driving attitude."

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