What Car Air Freshener Color Is Most Likely to Get You Pulled Over?
You have likely seen these common car accessories in parking lots or going down the road. Air fresheners are one of the most popular car staples for those with personal vehicles. You may even have one. However, did you know that car air fresheners can be illegal if used improperly? Furthermore, did you know that some air fresheners are more likely to get you pulled over than others? It comes down to your choice of scent and color.
A car air freshener can get you pulled over by the cops
While the air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror can seem like a pretty harmless car accessory, they can get you pulled over by the police in a majority of states, according to The New York Times. Many drivers are unaware of these laws and continue to hang air fresheners from their rearview mirrors. The states where you can be pulled over have laws on the books that say you can’t have anything near your windshield that could obstruct the driver’s view. It is a relatively low-level offense, similar to tinted windows or broken headlights.
According to Power Nation TV, the Minnesota law states, “A person shall not drive or operate any motor vehicle with…any objects suspended between the driver and the windshield, other than sun visors; rearview mirrors; driver feedback and safety monitoring equipment when mounted immediately behind, slightly above, or slightly below the rearview mirror.”
Minnesota is not alone in making it law that you cannot have anything between the driver and the windshield other than a GPS, registration sticker, or sun visor. Anything else that can obstruct the driver’s view is illegal.
Human eyes see certain colors quicker than others
While all air fresheners hanging down from your rearview mirror are illegal in a majority of states, certain colors of air fresheners are more likely to get you pulled over.
According to Dopely Colors, our eyes pick up some colors more than others. Yellow is the most visible color in the darkness. That is why caution signs are colored yellow, as well as taxi cabs. The most visible color in the daylight is found between green and yellow. The most visible color from a distance is green. Green, red, orange, and yellow are picked up the fastest by human eyes due to their sharpness.
Air fresheners with these colors are more likely to be seen by police officers because they are generally easier to see. It is the brightly or starkly colored air fresheners that are going to get you in trouble more times than not.
Air fresheners with more muted colors, such as white, gray, and black, are less likely to get you pulled over. This is especially the case if those colors blend into your car’s interior and exterior colors. The time of day can also determine how visible your air freshener is to others.
Some car colors are more likely to get you pulled over by police too
You may have heard that red cars are more likely to get pulled over and can also have higher insurance premiums. But, is this true?
American Auto Insurance states that there is a color that is more likely to get pulled over, but it is not red. The color that is most likely to get pulled over is white. Second place goes to red, though. Gray is third place, and silver gets fourth place.
It is easy to assume red would be pulled over more because it is an easy color to spot. But, the truth lies more with statistics than the brightness of color. For several years, white has been the most popular car color. It makes sense that the most popular car color would be the one that is the most likely to be pulled over.
