My printer just spit out the single-page form required to replace my out-of-state driver’s license with a Maine license. I moved here over two years ago. The incentive to shell out $65 for the Maine ID was being told recently by a policeman that it’s a misdemeanor to drive with my old license and I could be arrested.

Holy shit, I thought, arrested. I mean, how unglamorous would it be to get arrested with my son in his car seat, my vehicle filthy with wrappers and school papers, and me concealing under my probably-overdue-for-a-wash, hand-me-down puffy jacket a pair of leggings and underpants that have seen much better days. Not to mention the money to get out of jail, and jail itself.

My car’s registration and inspection were also out of date. I’ve been driving around with an expired sticker for more than a year and a half. The blue inspection sticker from 2017 was what triggered the traffic stop, and the fine for that is more than $100. I should have gotten that taken care of long ago, but I didn’t, even after being warned seven times.

Wait, what’s that? Reread that sentence if you haven’t already. I have been pulled over seven times, including twice in the same day by two different police persons in different towns within 10 minutes of one another, and twice by the same policeman.

Do you want to know what my secret is? I’ll tell you: I’m white.

The following reasons may also explain why I didn’t get multiple tickets or go to jail during any of those seven traffic stops:

• I’m a woman. I think this deserves more explanation than I’m willing to give, because I don’t have the time or interest (sorry, guys) to get into all the ways women are putting one over on men these days.
• I have a car seat and, occasionally, a child in my car.
• I am extremely charismatic (this is unlikely, because it is not true).
• It was “the end of the shift,” according to two officers.
• It was “just too nice of a day” — said by the same officer on two different occasions several months apart.
• I am ridiculously attractive (if you can get past the hatchet-like frown line between my eyes, my different-sized nostrils, my abdomen made entirely of the world’s best frozen custard from a place in Missouri, and a long list of attributes that don’t fit the standards of beauty typically recognized by middle-class white men who are police officers; but hey, who really knows?).

And the reasons I didn’t get my driver’s license, registration or inspection sticker updated? Well, I am usually pretty broke (graduate school!), I’m a lifelong procrastinator, I have some mental health things going on (high-functioning anxiety and depression) and, as I’ve come to realize over the past few years, I’m also a bit of a gambler (Lord help me if I ever go to a casino).

After I got pulled over twice in one day, and then again two weeks later, and was let go with warnings every time, it began to dawn on me: this is happening because I’m white. And you know what? I’m probably right. According to a new study conducted by the Stanford Open Policing Project, there are “significant racial disparities in policing.” Black drivers are 20 percent more likely than whites to be ticketed (rather than merely warned) during a traffic stop, and Hispanic drivers are 30 percent more likely to get a ticket than white drivers. “Black and Hispanic motorists are [also] about twice as likely to be searched compared to white drivers,” according to the study (see openpolicing.stanford.edu/findings).

Other recent studies have found similar racial bias in policing. After the first few stops, it wasn’t a great leap for me to make the connection between my skin color and the deferential treatment I received. Being a sloth with a latent gambling addiction, I decided to keep driving around to see what happened — to find out, for the sake of science, how far I could push it. And yes, I hear you, that’s just some more of my white privilege, and I agree. But I was also risking fines totaling more than the cost of getting my license and car up to date. I was saving money. It was like having a Groupon voucher worth over $1,000 just for being Caucasian.

To be honest, this last time, when I was told I could be arrested … well, that wasn’t the first time I was so warned. Maybe it was my nervousness (even a traffic-stop pro like me gets rattled by the flashing lights and the air of authority and menace that police tend to exude) or my insomniac brain blurring “misdemeanor” and “arrest” into some gray area. Anyway, the threat just didn’t hit home — my white privilege once again provided a cozy down blanket of oblivion.

I’m not writing this to provide data for another study, or to warn other funny-looking, slothful, broke white moms to get their paperwork in order. I’m sharing my experience in the hope that local police departments will work harder to eradicate their biases against people of other ethnicities. As for me, I’ve gotta get back on the road — I’m late for a date at the DMV.

For obvious reasons, The Bollard granted this writer anonymity. Shortly before this issue went to press, the author was pulled over an eighth time for the expired inspection sticker. The officer let her go with a warning.