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Zapped
Model S - PURE EV
Insurance companies would tell you RED cars have more accidents but I'm sure that depends who initiated the accident.
islandbayy
Active Member
Slightly un-related, but yet still. I'm a Motorcycle & Scooter dealer. Black Cycles and Scooters that I sell come in with accident damage of some sort about 10 to 1 over every other color. The least accidents I have are on Lime Green and Metal Red. Followed by Yellow. Blue is one small step above Black. I also sell about 8 to 1 of every other color to black. So Black has the least in sales, yet the most accidents for me.
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When I originally bought my orange over black Datsun 240Z in 1972, I was told it was the most visible color according to their "research". I expect the same might have been true about red. However, with today's prevalence of distracted driving, except for @islandbayy's anecdotal post, I'm not convinced a car's color will make much difference if the other driver isn't paying attention to begin with, although it *might* reduce your damage if the other driver sees you a fraction sooner. Disregarding radios, people didn't have programmable electronics to occupy them while driving in 1972. Kids fighting in the backseat? Yeah. That's what the driver said was going on when she smashed into me from behind a few years later. Of course, since I was stopped, my car kept her from barreling through a red light, perhaps resulting to injuries to everyone involved.
NigelM
Recovering Member
Somebody recently clipped my Sig Red wing mirror, I don't think color made any difference.
Mod Note: thread title updated for clarity.
Mod Note: thread title updated for clarity.
SwedishAdvocate
Active Member
There seems to be scientific studies made about this topic. I’ve tried searching for some in the past but never managed to find something that looked sufficiently credible. Maybe someone else know of one.
Just guessing wildly I would think a highly reflective orange would be good from a visibility standpoint in daylight, while a highly reflective light yellow would be even better in the dark.
Just guessing wildly I would think a highly reflective orange would be good from a visibility standpoint in daylight, while a highly reflective light yellow would be even better in the dark.
Insurance companies would tell you that this is an urban legend. My own insurance company says:
Auto Insurance - TD Insurance
Legends about car colors abound. There's the myth that red cars get more speeding tickets for example:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/redcars.asp
Not only the most common color but, from what MANY have said on this forum, it is the fastest color too???? (I have read it on the forum so it MUST be true...RIGHT???):crying:
I can think of a logical reason why red could get more speeding tickets. Usually red is the "hey look at me color" and people who buy average cars tend to stay away from red. Red on the other hand is more popular with performance cars. So I would think it is less to do with the color, and more to do with the cars that happen to be that color.
It is like saying, "people who wear full orange are more likely to be criminals". It is not that orange makes you a criminal, it is that prisons just happen to use orange outfits thus skewing the statistics. Or yellow cars are more often a Taxi.
So if you took the same car and used different colors, it would be same result.
I've been driving a red Tesla Roadster for over three years, with a somewhat heavy foot :redface:, and zero attention from police. I suspect the lack of sound trumps the red color hands down.
It is also the only color that caught fire. Hmm. Maybe the black color attracts metal objects.
I was really thinking of getting black, but now, maybe not...
:scared:
I think you'd have to dig deeper to get any statistically valid data. You'd need to separate the data by at fault and not at fault, then for the at fault data you'd need to factor in some psychological slant for the profiles of people who choose certain colored cars. Do people who choose red card tend to drive faster or more aggressively? Would that lead to a greater occurrence of accidents?
For the not at fault, you'd need to separate by day or night crashes... is it harder to see dark colored cars at night? Leading to more accidents?
I'm sure I can continue to think of other ways this would need to be broken out, but my point is (finally!) that I don't believe that myth that the color of a car has any bearing on accidents.
For the not at fault, you'd need to separate by day or night crashes... is it harder to see dark colored cars at night? Leading to more accidents?
I'm sure I can continue to think of other ways this would need to be broken out, but my point is (finally!) that I don't believe that myth that the color of a car has any bearing on accidents.
Zapped
Model S - PURE EV
It may not be intentional. Since its a TESLA, it could be a result of them having a really close look. :smile:
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