Company News from yesinsurance
23 January 2007 Red cars are safest – and most dangerous – says research
Research undertaken among 4,000 UK motorists last month by insurance provider yesinsurance.co.uk reveals confusion among drivers about which car colours are the safest. Red was voted as both the safest and most dangerous colour.
“We asked drivers about which colours they thought were the safest and most dangerous, as far as the likelihood of having an accident was concerned, and red came top of the poll as both the safest and most dangerous colour,” said Paul Purdy of yesinsurance.co.uk.
There have only been two scientific investigations of the relationship between car colour and safety (Lardelli-Claret 2002 and Furness et al 2003). Whilst neither was able to propose the selection of one particular colour as the unambiguous best choice for safety, the results of these studies did point towards lighter colours such as white and yellow being safer than dark colours such as black.
A separate study of fire fighting equipment (Schuman 1991) stated that red, which is perceived as black at night, is one of the least visible of vehicle colours. The report also pointed out that people have particularly poor peripheral detection of red shades.
“From an insurance point of view, we make no distinctions as far as colour is concerned,” said Paul Purdy.
“However, darker colours such as black, red and dark blue are probably less visible than white or yellow cars, although this will depend to some extent on environmental conditions – white cars are not particularly visible in snowy conditions,” he said.
The yesinsurance.co.uk research indicates that nearly a quarter of motorists (23%) think that red is the safest car colour – probably because red is often perceived as a warning colour and is used by the fire services. However, over a third (35%) think it is the most dangerous colour.
Full details of the results of the yesinsurance.co.uk research are as follows:
Safety and car colours (4,000 motorists surveyed by yesinsurance.co.uk)
Safest colour |
Most dangerous colour |
||
Red |
23% |
Red |
35% |
White |
21% |
Black |
29% |
Silver |
17% |
White |
10% |
Blue |
15% |
Grey |
9% |
Black |
13% |
Silver |
7% |
Grey |
4% |
Blue |
2% |
Other |
7% |
Other |
8% |
“From a safety point of view, we would like to see more detailed research being undertaken into the relationship between car colours and safety,” said Paul Purdy.
“To some extent this will relate to visibility in different environmental conditions, but there are also psychological factors involved – for example, are young boy racers who have a higher risk factor more attracted to red cars than older more experienced motorists?” he said.
“We also need to consider whether red is the most appropriate colour for emergency vehicles, such as fire engines. The research undertaken so far would seem to indicate that lime yellow would be a more appropriate and visible colour,” he said.
