Vehicle Color vs Safety

[TxDoc]

http://www.aaafoundation.org/resources/ind...button=carcolor

 

Car Color and Safety

White Paper

 

Need

 

A frequently asked question of Foundation staff is "What is the safest car color?" Psychological studies show that color has an effect on behavior, and there are other studies about color and conspicuity, but there are no studies examining the impact of car color on crash rates.

 

"Colors can create conditions that can cause fatigue, increase stress, decrease visual perception, damage eyesight, increase possible worker errors, and negatively affect orientation and safety" (www.colormatters.com).  Studies examining traditional color psychology find blue is relaxing and red increases heart rate and blood pressure.  Color affects mood and people make purchasing decisions based on color.  However, it seems unlikely that a person who dislikes the color orange, for example, would purposely crash into an orange vehicle.

 

General studies have also been done to show the most visible colors for day and night; however, there are no studies directly addressing the relationship between car color (conspicuity) and crashes among passenger vehicles. The study below discusses colors for fire fighting equipment, and presumably it would have some relevance for passenger cars too:

 

It is noted that the color red, used for fire fighting equipment, is one of the least visible of vehicle colors. Optometrists note that, for its high visibility, lime yellow should be used by fire and rescue teams, as well as favored by trucks and car buyers. Lime yellow falls in the middle of the color spectrum (Schuman 1991).

 

Several Web sites focus on color and solicit opinions; as one might expect, the general public has many theories on color psychology. One Web site, Color Matters (www.colormatters.com), discusses the effect that color has on the mind and body.  Visitors can pose questions and leave comments:

 

I once owned a 1980 "sand-beige" ford escort… In the 4 years that I owned the car, it was hit 11 times. Each time it was either completely stopped at a light, stop sign or parked. Apparently, this is a hard color to see, particularly on sunny days. Now, I drive a black VW and have not been in an accident in 5 years.

 

And:

 

My mother owned a silver-gray car. We noticed a significant number of near collisions on foggy morning and dusky evening hours. The silver seems to blend in with the road.

 

This type of speculation and frequent questions to Foundation staff underscore the timeliness of this topic.  It's an obvious question to car buyers -- what color car is safest?  However, it is not known if there is a relationship between car color and safety because studies have not been done.

 

Proposal

 

It is proposed that the Foundation support research to study the effects of car color on safety. A request for proposal (RFP) will suggest working with state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and AAA club-affiliated insurance companies to collect necessary data.  

 

The relationship between car color and safety is complex.  Background color (trees, desert, etc.), weather conditions (rain, fog, snow), and daylight have a profound effect on conspicuity.  

 

At night, white is the most visible, but lime yellow stands out better against cloudy skies and snowy backdrops than does white. The color red is perceived as black at night. Also, people have particularly poor peripheral detection of red shades (Schuman 1991).

 

In addition, any study of the relationship between car color and crashes must consider the distribution of different colored cars on the road and whether certain colors are over or under-represented among certain types of drivers.  For instance, any study that reports red cars are more prone to crashes needs to rule out higher number of red cars on the road and disproportionate numbers of bad drivers (young males) owning red cars.

 

Preliminary investigations indicate that some DMVs record car color.  For instance, New York has registration data that includes car color and crash reports can be linked via license plate to obtain car color (see New York form in Appendix).  Information on car color is not collected by most of the AAA clubs we contacted.  For example, AAA Michigan does not have car color data for all insured cars, but does have car color data on the subset of cars involved in crashes (from the claims database).  Furthermore, it is not possible to determine car color by linking via the vehicle identification number.  Although a contractor could compare the distribution of AAA Michigan car colors involved in crashes (from claims data) to the distribution of all car colors in Michigan (obtained from the manufacturers), this would be too imprecise.

 

The contractor is expected to acquire valid data on car color and crashes in several states or localities.  In determining the relationship between car color and safety, the contractor should try to go beyond process outputs, such as number of citations or arrests.  Rather, the goal is to measure the crash rate -- a core outcome.  Certain car colors are more likely to be caught for traffic violations (Newman and Willis 1993), but this is not the main concern of this paper.

 

Potential confounding variables include age, sex, weather conditions and the time of day that the crash occurred.  One could envision a graph of car color and crashes, with a line for each car color juxtaposed against time of day.  Are different car colors involved in crashes at different times of day?  Further multivariate analyses would be done to investigate the relationship between car color and safety while controlling for potential confounding variables.

 

Discussion

 

In preparing this white paper very little information was found specifically on car color and safety. People assume that yellow is the safest color because it is used for school buses. However, when the National Conference on School Transportation chose the color at their meeting in 1939, nothing was mentioned about the expected effect on traffic safety.  Similarly, many people think red is a safe and conspicuous vehicle color because fire trucks are red; again we found no research supporting this belief.

[Zane]

Very interesting. Thanks!  

[MiSdIrEcTeD_1]

It is noted that the color red, used for fire fighting equipment, is one of the least visible of vehicle colors...

Bah!!! Whats wrong with Red??? lol...  

[chevy4x4trucks]

It is noted that the color red, used for fire fighting equipment, is one of the least visible of vehicle colors...

Bah!!! Whats wrong with Red??? lol...  

Trust me, after your giant red truck has been hit twice, I can tell you it's like a friggin target.

[k1500chevy97]

"What is the safest car color?"

It is noted that the color red, used for fire fighting equipment, is one of the least visible of vehicle colors. Optometrists note that, for its high visibility, lime yellow should be used by fire and rescue teams, as well as favored by trucks and car buyers. Lime yellow falls in the middle of the color spectrum (Schuman 1991).

I like this color as shown on this neighboring towns engine

 

[BDBWTE]

It is noted that the color red, used for fire fighting equipment, is one of the least visible of vehicle colors...

Bah!!! Whats wrong with Red??? lol...  

Trust me, after your giant red truck has been hit twice, I can tell you it's like a friggin target.

My 1500 got hit three times..and none were my fault...That victory red must enrage drivers like red enrages bulls...I screwed either way..A red truck that is going to get hit by everyone or a Pewter truck that blends in with the fog and gets hit....#### it :angry:

[Shadowfax]

That was cool. Reminded me of a study I read once on colors and why they are used in such places as hospitals. The reasons why most hospital scrubs are green or blue is because of surgery reasons. Apparently if we stare at somthing red (like the internal organs of say a open heart patient) for a long time, the doctor will start to see green or blue spots. Studies found by painting the operating room blue or green, along with scrubs being the same color, stopped this from happening.

 

I also remember saying colors such as red make a person feel more risky and brave, whereas black calms a person. Which explained why roulette wheels in Casinos are red and black, its to make you feel relaxed while gambling lol.