Silver cars less safe on roads

If all drivers drove with their head lights on then there would be less of a problem :))

Cheers Kev

Currently drive a Sliver 100 series (I did not have a choice of colour). There is a very noticable difference in how much space other drivers give me between lights off and on. I now always drive with the lights on.
It is not only wet weather that makes the car hard to see. It is also hard to see in the shimmer you get on very hot days

Previous 4x4 was a bright red Prado. Still found that drivers gave me more room with lights on compared to off, however the difference was not as big as it is with the silver car.

It all depends on the brightness and or size of the image on your retina.

If there is a 68 tonne truck coming at you and a 2 tonne SUV just in front of it you'll probably only see the truck. If the SUV is a light colour with it's lights on then it presents a brighter image than the truck so it will be more obvious. Motorcyclists face the same problem so you may ask why they mostly wear black and object to having their lights on.??

I have had this opinion about Silver/grey cars for years too.
My car is white but whenever the rain starts my lights go on even though i know i drive one of the more visible coloured cars on the road. Guess who is the last car on the road to think of putting their lights on, the Silver/grey, dark blue and black cars seem to be the ones. The most high risk cars seem to be the most unaware of their invisibilty during times of low light be it rain or dusk or heat shimmer.
I said this in a previous post which touched on this subject...Volvo had the right idea back in the 80's when they rigged the parkers to come on when the motor was running,... mind you that is as close to praise as i can bring myself to offer regarding these mechanical marvels LOL.

There should be a programme of education provided to the public covering this safety issue but it won't happen.

I have little doubt this is an extremely silly statistic.

It is inevitable that some colours will be over-represented in accidents just as it is inevitable that male drivers who part their hair on one particular side of their head, will be over-represented.

"Lies. Damned lies and statistics!"

Mike Harding

After having driven over ONE MILLION MILES not KILOMETRES in my life I have never had to use my headlights except to see where I am going. My attitudes is - if you cant see my car on the roadthen what the hell are you doing driving if you cant see me or any other car etc Get the hell off the road as you are a danger to other road users and youself. In over 45 years of driving in many countries I have never had difficulty seeing other vehicles in the rain, or overcast conditions. And in fog everyone uses YELLOW Fog lamps NOT white !

Now this will create a huge tidal wave of vitriolic posts - dont waste your time posting to me as I will delete then as fast as they come in. Never had a motor vehicle accident in over a million miles of driving behind the wheel of all my company cars. I just pay attention at all times- and that includes even now that I am retired.

I agree about the silver . Especially at dawn and dusk .

I think this link will show you all just how....umm...err... nice a ..CAR can look. STUNNING I must say.

Car Lovers Only


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When I worked at General Motors in their engineering department in the '90s there was a big study done in the US that determined that other drivers percieve a car with it's headlights on (low beam) to be closer than it actually is.

Therefore they are less likely to pull out from a side road, or commence overtaking toward a car with it's lights on than they were if it had no lights on.

Further they worked out that the running light style of lighting such as those used on Volvos were too dim to have had any effect on distance perception.

As a result GM divisions (eg. Holden, Subaru, SAAB etc.) worldwide tended toward designing vehicles that turned lights off when the key was off and the drivers door opened, rather than just beeping at the driver. If the car turned them off people were more likely to just leave them on.

I can say that in 10 years of ambulance I've never been to an accident during the day where the vehicles involved were running low beam durng the day. It's only anecdotal evidence, but I've been to a lot of prangs.

We also find that alternating headlights with the red & blues on are far, far more effective than the red & blues alone during the day time. They can be seen from further away, and they attract much more of the drivers attention.

Dave

I'm not going to say a word about this topic after my little accidents with the tree/bullbar and that bl**dy pole in the carpark!

My 100 Series is silver and my Crewman is dark charcoal grey.

Lights on 100% of the time. Costs nothing and can't hurt I reckon. What's the problem?

G'day,

Owned two silver 100 series, never been involved in a crash. Drive with lights on. If you can't see my vehicle on the road you may need to be paying more attention.

Ross.

I remember hearing a study that actually said that silver cars were the safest on the road so did a quick google and found this. Not sure if it the one I remember.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4504-silver-cars-are-the-safest-on-the-road.html

Dont know what you are all on about,Ive had 4 silver cars and only smashed each one once.Cheers Snake