Choosing between red or black can be the difference between winning or losing for the millions who travel to Las Vegas to try their luck each year. Yet, a study from Australia’s Monash University found that choosing between red or black can also affect your luck on the roads.
Color plays an important role when choosing a car. Some people would never dream of driving a yellow or red car, considering it too flashy. Others would find a green or grey vehicle too dull. The study looked for a correlation between car color and the likelihood you crash.
Black cars suffer more crashes
The study found that the safest car to drive was a white one, and the most dangerous was a black one. Black cars were 12% more likely to be in a crash than white ones. Red ones were 7% more likely to crash than white ones.
What makes black cars more dangerous? Part of it may be due to the image associated with them. No wannabe gangster would be seen dead driving a beige vehicle. So young reckless males with scant regard for the law may tend toward black cars. Yet visibility or lack of it is of more significance.
Drivers are less likely to crash into vehicles if they see them. While dark-colored cars are not invisible, they stand out less. They can be harder to spot until they are close to you, and it can be harder to judge their speed.
A driver who crashes into you might try their luck and claim they did not see you because you had a dark-colored car or because it was nighttime. Yet drivers have a responsibility to see other vehicles, whatever color they are and whatever the conditions. If a driver injures you in a crash, it is crucial to investigate why they did not spot you in time. They may have been distracted, drunk, going too fast for the conditions, or driving without their glasses. None of these is a valid excuse for causing a collision.