Q: Our 2010 silver Toyota Corolla has been hit by other cars twice and has had several close calls. Since this is the first small car we’ve owned and also the first silver car, we don’t know if it’s a coincidence. Are there any studies done on color and size?
A: There’s been speculation that gray and silver cars, as well as other non-vibrant colors like champagne and light green, are wreck magnets because they’re hard to see in some light conditions, including dawn, dusk, rain and fog. Trucker blogs are filled with discussions about how tough it is to spot those colors. Owners of such colors regularly comment on how they feel invisible to other drivers.
I’ve noticed that I’m less conscious of gray vehicles than I am of a bright yellow car, which, because of light reflection and the brain processes it, is an “assault” on our brains we can’t ignore, experts say.
The Monash University Accident Research Center in Victoria, Australia, found that colors such as black, blue and gray, that “rank lower on the visibility index, were associated with higher crash risk in daylight hours” and that the accidents tended to be more severe. An earlier study published in the British Medical Journal found silver cars were 50 percent less likely than white to be in serious crashes.
In the end, as the Safe Auto Insurance Company says on its blog: “[Although] anecdotes abound about how… gray or beige cars are hit more often because they are harder to see in daylight… studies have not revealed any consistent findings which correlate collision incidence with vehicle color.” The chief reason is that “most research only examines crash statistics” and not additional factors “This makes any conclusions untrustworthy.”
I find no studies concluding small cars are more likely to be in “passive” accidents — like being slammed into by others while the operators are obeying all laws and behaving responsibly — versus small cars getting creamed because drivers are driving poorly.
What can you do? Switch on lights during the day, look for driving improvements you can enact (we can all develop bad habits) and consider a defensive driving refresher course.
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