What Is The Safest Car Color? |
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Scooter Davis
10 September 2012
The National Safety Council has something to say about the color car you drive.
What's your guess?
Red, blue, silver, two tone? How about a race car with logos from hood to trunk?
Color might be the least of the ingredients that help you avoid an accident.
The National Safety Council sums it up in one sentence-
The safest car color is "one that is highly visible in the widest range of lighting, weather, and vision conditions."
Humm.So what they are saying is...it depends? It appears that many different variables play a strong role in color selection as it pertains to safety.
Keep reading to understand the functions of color cars and accident potential.
Some studies support the idea that lighter color cars are safer than darker.
One series of tests done at the University of California concluded that drivers react to blue and yellow cars in a certain way because blue cars seem closer. But gray cars seem further away.
Color Affects Behavior
Red causes more aggression. ( Depending on the sports team- Ha Ha!)
Some colors attract more attention-
White - is noticed more at 86% compared to others.
Black, blue, and dark red were noticed as low as 4%.
A study in New Zealand lined car color to accident injury.
Brown cars had the most injured drivers. Black and green also showed higher risk of injury in accidents.
Silver cars had the lowest risk. They were half as likely to be involved in an accident that lead to injury than darker cars.
Oh, Well-
In the end-- there is no conclusive proof that there is ONE safest color.
It's all about the situation-
Factors such as night, day, weather incluiding fog, rain, snow, and bright sunlight are big factors. It is thught that yellow is best in these conditions.
Even though silver is considered by experts to be a good color, it is difficult to see at sunrise and sunset.
It is thought that red is the least visible. One factor that might influence the red paradox is that human peripheral vision does not see red very well.
So after all the research, the tests, the study's that weigh the hundred's of variables, taking into considration the rainbow of colors automobiles come in, the bottom line is a little bit of a dissappointment. If you were looking for the definitive color that makes all the difference, sorry- but like many of life's simple objkectves, this one remains elusive as well.
The best rule for avoiding an accident is not color after all. It is paying close attention.