Silver cars are safer cars. Brown, black, & green are the most dangerous.

[Wonk]

If you're in the market for a new car, choose one that is silver. Why? Silver cars are involved in far fewer crashes than cars of other colors.

According to a study by researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand that assessed the effect of car colors on the risk of serious injury in over 1,000 Auckland drivers between 1998-99, silver cars were 50 percent less likely to be involved in a crash resulting in a serious injury when compared with white cars.

Reuters reports that the least safe car colors are brown, black, and green. The risk factor for white, yellow, gray, red, and blue cars is in the middle range and about the same for each. Globally, about 3,000 people die every day in a car crash.

(snip)

The study findings were published in the British Medical Journal.

more...

:think:

[Dude_CalmDown]

1. Because Silver is the new official luxury car color.

I have no idea what this has to do with politics but Silver has become a wildly popular color for Mercedes, BMW, Aura, Volvo, Infiniti etc. All of these makes put a lot of attention towards safety. Not only that but Silver is just far more popular than it has been in the past. Many more new cars are silver than in years past. New cars have higher safety ratings than older cars. How many new cars are brown? Brown was pretty damn big 12 years ago. Silver is the color you buy if you want your car to look good in 10 years. Silver does not really get old so many people who really want their car to last buy it in silver (or red). Red also can apply here but I'd imagine that Red's numbers have taken a big hit from the "my car is red, has a wing made by Boeing duct taped to the trunk so I'm positive that I can take this curve at 60 with my all season tires" crowd.

No official facts in this post but I never bet and I would bet that 90% of this post is true.

[trogdor]

2. Naah, it's because people who buy silver cars don't drive like morons.

Think about it.

[DS1]

10. I see more black benzes than any color, Audi should rejoice at this news

[tinanator]

11. silver has always been the worst paint for durability

It oxidizes quickly. I hope new paint technology has changed that, but have no idea. What it boils down to is if your car is the same color as the road, it takes longer to spot it and react to your presence. At least it does for me.

[Snow]

3. Now what a good epidemiologist would do before

going out and buying a silver car, is replicate the findings. Does the relationship still hold in Australia, or the US? That'd be interesting. Well, okay, it'd be interesting to me - my daughter accuses me of epidemiology geeekiness.....

[DoNotRefill]

4. It's probably a result of visibility.

eom

[Coldgothicwoman]

6. Visibility?

While I am certain that visibility may well have a lot to do with it, I would have considered it just the opposite. There's nothing I hate worse than trying to see a silver car on an overcast day.

Or maybe its just me? :silly:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. funny...I had heard just the oposite myself

I cannot quote the studies, but I know that I heard that DUE to low visibility, silver cars were one of the worst for collisions with other vehicles. I wonder if this study just looked at multi-car incidents or did it include all incidents? That would make a big difference!

TheProdigal

[ProdigalJunkMail]

9. dupe

dupe inserted due to impatience...deleted due to vigilance!

TheProdigal

[cliss]

5. Thanks for the link.

Now, what are the statistics for the US? I would love to look into that some more, since I'm an information junkie.

US insurance companies would have that kind of information available. They have actuaries who figure out the odds of getting into a crash, and how much car insurance premiums should be. That's why teenagers have such high premiums; cause they're reckless drivers.

[hellhathnofury]

7. My Honda is a greyish-green. Uh oh.

[RebelOne]

12. Well, I'm safe. Own a silver car.

Also Clark Howard said that according to a survey, silver was the most popular car color.

[sendero]

13. Similar studies in the US...

... have concluded that the safest color is yellow, followed by white.

Unsafe colors are black and red (which looks black at night).

Sorry, no link, I'm going from memory here.

The best safety strategy is to drive defensively. :)