Do women get fewer traffic tickets than men?
Megan Mullally, in an episode of Will and Grace, explains that she had a couple of good reasons for speeding.
No driver or officer can deny the fact that there are inherent differences between men and women. However, a recent study shows that these differences are unlikely to alter the chances of simply receiving a warning instead of a ticket when pulled over.
At least as far as Wisconsin is concerned, women and men actually receive the same proportion of tickets compared with warnings when pulled over by State Patrol officers.
While it may not pay to be a woman when it comes to getting pulled over in Wisconsin, it does seem to pay to be an actual resident of Wisconsin itself. The study revealed that Wisconsin drivers are given some consideration that out of state drivers are not. Illinois drivers got slapped with tickets a higher percentage of the time than Wisconsin drivers.
This information is all according to an analysis of more than 150,000 citations and warnings issued by the Wisconsin State Patrol in 2008.
We don’t know if these patterns would hold for New Yorkers under a similar study, but it’s food for thought in the event you are driving in another state or you are planning to rely on certain “assets” if you happen to get pulled over.