Image Credit: TCD Dearborn NewsThe Dearborn, Michigan police department has a new way to catch aggressive drivers, and it doesn't look anything like a police car. The city recently put a small fleet of electric Ford Mustang Mach-E GTs on traffic duty, and it shared dashcam footage of one of them pulling a driver over on Ford Road. The whole point of the car is that you don't see it coming.In the clip, one of the Mach-E patrol cars trails a Ford pickup down Ford Road and follows it onto a side street, where the driver finally pulls over. The department posted the video with a caption aimed squarely at local drivers. As it put it, "For Every Driver Who's Been Cut Off on Ford Road, This One's for You."The patrol cars are part of a new aggressive driving unit that Dearborn rolled out in late May. According to FOX 2 Detroit, the department put three of the electric Mustangs into service specifically to go after speeders and reckless drivers. They're quick enough to keep up, with the acceleration to match a driver who's trying to outrun them.AdvertisementAdvertisementMost drivers don't even register them as cop cars. A Mustang Mach-E looks like just another crossover, so an aggressive driver doesn't let off the way they would behind a marked cruiser. They keep right on driving the way they were, until the lights come on behind them.Why an Electric Mustang Works as a Patrol CarThe Mach-E GT might not look the part, but it has the performance for the job. Chief Issa Shahin has pointed to how quick the car is off the line and how quietly it runs. Fast and silent is exactly the mix you want when the idea is to close in before a driver notices you.The electric setup fits the job in a more practical way, too. Shahin has noted that a traffic car like this isn't running 24 hours a day, so the eight to 10 hours it spends on patrol sit well within the battery's range. The department also gets the lower running costs that come with going electric.The Ford ConnectionThere's a reason the cars showed up in Dearborn first. The city is the headquarters of Ford Motor Company, and the Mach-E program is tied to a partnership with the hometown automaker. So the same company that builds the cars gets to see its police version working a few miles from where it was designed.AdvertisementAdvertisementIt also makes for a tidy bit of symmetry. In the Ford Road clip, a Ford-built electric Mustang pulls over a Ford pickup, all of it playing out in the company's own backyard. Underneath the fun of it, though, the unit has a straightforward job, which is getting aggressive drivers to slow down before someone gets hurt.If you want more stories like this, follow Guessing Headlights on Yahoo so you don't miss what's coming next.
