Though our world is filled with vibrant colors, we rarely stop to think about what color is and how it impacts our life. Dr. Movsas, ophthalmologist and Director of Zietchick Research Institute, explains that our eyes interpret different reflections of light from objects as different hues of color.
It has often been said that our choice of favorite color may reflect our personality. For example, the color red is often associated with strong will and ambition.
Interestingly, more than half of consumers indicate that color plays a role in their decision to purchase a particular vehicle. Because of this, car manufacturers have design teams dedicated to deciding upon which trending colors to use for car production. In recent years, you may have noticed more cars with tones of grays and blues, perhaps mimicking the hues of our beloved high tech devices—cell phones, laptops, blue-light screens.
What’s more fascinating is that in Thailand, many people’s choice of colour is specifically linked to their birthday. An article by Easy Compare Thailand revealed that an individual’s day of birth can be aligned with a specific colour and having the right alignment can bring luck.
Car Color Affects Safety
Not everyone realizes that car color can affect safety. Zietchick Research Institute reviewed the results of a study conducted by Monash University Accident Research Centre in Australia.
The Monash University Accident Research Centre is one of the most comprehensive injury prevention research institutions in the world. They studied car crashes in Australia that were reported to police and they found a significant relationship between car color and risk of motor vehicle accident.
They found that white vehicles have the lowest risk of accidents. This is not surprising given that white is most visible. Other car colors such as black, blue, grey, green and red were found to increase the odds of motor vehicle accidents by about 10%. However, if the car was not white, then it did not matter what the color was. In other words, vehicles of any color besides white had increased odds of car accidents compared to white cars.
Other Factors Affecting Car Safety
Though it is clear that white cars are the safest cars to drive, car color is not the most important factor in car safety. Zietchick Research Institute notes there is a litany of other factors that play a much larger and more important role in contributing to motor vehicle accidents. For example, it is critically important never to drive while intoxicated. There is one death every 50 minutes in the U.S. due to an alcohol-impaired driver.
Another extremely dangerous activity is texting and driving. Though this occurs very commonly, there is never a good excuse for this. The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Any type of distracted driving—anything that takes your attention away from paying attention to safe driving—severely compromises the safety of the driver, passengers, pedestrians, and people in other vehicles. Distracted driving includes activities such as “being lost in thought”, eating, fiddling with the navigation system, talking on the phone, amongst others.
To Conclude…
All in all, keep in mind that car color is one factor that influences risk of car accident. However, for highest safety, it is essential to pay attention to all safety factors. Most important, keep your eyes peeled to the road, and of course, never drink and drive.
References: https://www.monash.edu/muarc
