Do you suppose that there are numbers in some files somewhere about how many white cars or red cars get in to accidents?

Insurance company maybe?


Subaru had an almost olive drab color that I like a lot.

But it's very hard to see in very good light.

Must be close to invisible at night.

A quick search shows that black cars have the highest accident rates, followed by gray and silver cars. The “safest” cars are yellow, followed by white. So, it appears that visibility has a lot to do with it.

I always liked those yellow range rovers with the white roofs

A buddy of mine had an IROC-Z.

It was yellow that was bright enough to make Big Bird almost seem drab.

"I didn't see it!" said the lady in the police report as it was totaled.

They have to look for and see any car first. There are also people who 'didn't see' a firetruck or a train, so...

Many moons ago I had a 1985 black corvette.

I was hit 3 times and it got to the point wherein I always drove with the headlights on. Even that didn’t help and my wife didn’t want to ride with me because of other drivers.

The last accident I had the green light and a woman in a toronado failed to yield while making a left turn. She hit me just in front of the driver’s door, spun me around, and I woke up in the hospital.

That totalled the car. So what did I do? I bought a beautiful 1990 candy apple red corvette and never had a problem.

Our non scientific opinion; a black, low slung car, on many times black asphalt roads, was a recipe for trouble. Now in current times, add huge high capacity urban assault vehicles with usually inattentive self absorbed phone using drivers, I would never get another low slung black car.

Personally, I think you’d be fine in a forest green Subaru but a black Miata, hell no.

I recall reading years ago that the reason fire trucks generally changed from red to yellow was visibility in poor light conditions.

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
Our non scientific opinion; a black, low slung car, on many times black asphalt roads, was a recipe for trouble. Now in current times, add huge high capacity urban assault vehicles with usually inattentive self absorbed phone using drivers, I would never get another low slung black car.

It's going to get a LOT worse for ultra-dark cars, I think.

I think it was the Wall Street Journal that bought a bunch of wrecked Teslas to carve out their always-recording annotated camera records to see what they could find out about the accidents that resulted in them being totaled to see how many of them were self-driving, in "Autopilot mode" at the time. Yep, here's the non-paywalled link: WSJ 7/21/24 "Inside the WSJ’s Investigation of Tesla’s Autopilot Crash Risks" Eye opening.

As to how this relates to black cars. At the end of the video at the very bottom of the article, there's no-brake full speed crash into a big black pickup that had rolled on its side in a highway lane at night. Never got recognized by the AI.

I read many years ago that white is the safest color. However as most of us realize there are a lot of other factors that come into play.

I have a white Porsche Spyder that is only about 40” tall. Given that almost every truck is now lifted to one degree or another the possibility of them seeing me is severely reduced. I have to drive very defensively when I’m in traffic etc.

I had this idea. It’s only an idea. So ignore it if you don’t like it.

You know that 3M reflective tape they use on safety vests? I’ve seen it stuck on black police vehicles.

I don’t think it would be cost prohibitive to have someone that does vehicle signage to stick that around a vehicle.

You can do you own analysis on colors. Just look for various colored cars at different times of the day and night. You’ll notice that white is far more obvious than any other color vehicle. It is particularly noticeable around sunset.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
...The “safest” cars are yellow, followed by white. So, it appears that visibility has a lot to do with it.

White being visible depends on where you live. It's great here in Texas and its visibility is one of the reasons my motorcycle helmet is white.

However, it's not a visible color in the north where they have real winter instead of "winter." For example, in Alaska where winter is 8.5 to 9 months long white cars are spend the majority of the year blending in with the snow/snowbanks.

Black and gray vehicles really blend in to the background, especially in low light.

Similar results with motorcycle helmet visibility. For years various studies I saw showed that bright white helmets are what drivers noticed most. Darker solid color and those with graphics blended more into obscurity against background. The latest study showed hi-viz yellow surpassing white.

quote:

I have a white Porsche Spyder that is only about 40” tall. Given that almost every truck is now lifted to one degree or another...

Meh...just drive under them.

quote:

Originally posted by Cassandra:
I recall reading years ago that the reason fire trucks generally changed from red to yellow was visibility in poor light conditions.

Most around here are still red, with 1 dept being red/black. They look good, but don't stand out as well.
There was a dept nearby that had theirs in a chartreuse like color. Very indiscrete.
A couple in N Harris County are a light blue, a bit more noticeable than red, but easily mistaken for a typical semi at a quick glance.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
...The “safest” cars are yellow, followed by white. So, it appears that visibility has a lot to do with it.

White being visible depends on where you live. It's great here in Texas and its visibility is one of the reasons my motorcycle helmet is white.

However, it's not a visible color in the north where they have real winter instead of "winter." For example, in Alaska where winter is 8.5 to 9 months long white cars are spend the majority of the year blending in with the snow/snowbanks.

White is slightly better than silver & gray in a Houston monsoon, when you don't have your lights on. All 3 tend to blend in with the spray.
Luckily, the average Houston driver gets their forcefields [hazard lights] on when it's more than a drizzle

My helmets are silver & white. The white is long expired & I lost the visor years ago. It was my autocross helmet when I was in college.
If I get back into riding again, a new helmet will be on order. Need to check the date on my other.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
Our non scientific opinion; a black, low slung car, on many times black asphalt roads, was a recipe for trouble. Now in current times, add huge high capacity urban assault vehicles with usually inattentive self absorbed phone using drivers, I would never get another low slung black car.

It's going to get a LOT worse for ultra-dark cars, I think.

I think it was the Wall Street Journal that bought a bunch of wrecked Teslas to carve out their always-recording annotated camera records to see what they could find out about the accidents that resulted in them being totaled to see how many of them were self-driving, in "Autopilot mode" at the time. Yep, here's the non-paywalled link: WSJ 7/21/24 "Inside the WSJ’s Investigation of Tesla’s Autopilot Crash Risks" Eye opening.

As to how this relates to black cars. At the end of the video at the very bottom of the article, there's no-brake full speed crash into a big black pickup that had rolled on its side in a highway lane at night. Never got recognized by the AI.

I could read the article but the video required a subscription. Either way I agree it will get worse.

Above is from AI source "Perplexity."

Reviewing how it generated this table, where it cited sources, etc., I find the info credible if not exact.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:

Above is from AI source "Perplexity."

Reviewing how it generated this table, where it cited sources, etc., I find the info credible if not exact.

My current daily is brown, with a black top...and quite small [Mini Cooper Convertible]. And it currently has no lights.

I guess if a guy wanted to extrapolate further, besides color,
He could include graphics and signage in to the equation.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
A quick search shows that black cars have the highest accident rates, followed by gray and silver cars. The “safest” cars are yellow, followed by white. So, it appears that visibility has a lot to do with it.

This is why I hate statistics. There are so many ways to represent the data. I see far more black cars than yellow so the percentage should be higher, right?

My first car that I bought was a black Supra.

Then a blue Dodge Ram pickup.

My last 2 cars have been white.

2014 Escape and 2023 Mach E.

I have been on both ends of the color spectrum.