New data gathered by Quality Planning Corporation (QPC), an ISO company that validates policyholder information for auto insurers, dispels the pervasive notion that drivers of high-performance vehicles garner the most tickets for traffic violations.

In fact, QPC's findings indicate that those behind of the wheel of gas-guzzling SUVs are the most heavily ticketed drivers, not sports car enthusiasts. Drawing upon traffic code violations from 2007 to 2008, the study found that owners of the Hummer H2/H3 racked up the most violations, with 4.63 times the number of violations compared to the overall average. An old standby, the pickup truck, fell at the opposite end of the spectrum.

The San Francisco-based firm asserts that there is a strong correlation between what people drive and how they drive. There are several theories to explain why certain vehicles (and their drivers) pose more of a detriment than others. Mark S. Foster, author of A Nation on Wheels: The Automobile Culture in America Since 1945, offered his own assessment: