Black cars are up to 47 per cent more likely to be involved in crashes.

Run_to_da_hills

"20-year study revealed black cars to be the most dangerous - and white, gold and yellow to be the safest. The reason lies not in who is behind the wheel, but in the visibility of their vehicle, say the researchers. Black, grey, silver, red and blue fail to stand out against the background of the road, scenery and other traffic"

Im surprised Irish Insurance companies have not copped on to this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288457/Black-cars-likely-involved-accidents.html

alias no.9

DRL's FTW

jaffa20

Yellow to be the safest? Sure why not pink with yellow spots while they are at it? It won't cause me to take my eyes of the road at all or blind me with it's fugliness!!

Matt Simis

jaffa20 wrote: »

Yellow to be the safest? Sure why not pink with yellow spots while they are at it? It won't cause me to take my eyes of the road at all or blind me with it's fugliness!!

But Yellow is an excellent looking car colour!?

GTE

Another reason why I cant wait for DRL's to come in. Not because I think they look good or that they are a great innovative idea. Switching on your headlights before you set off is a great innovative idea but at least DRL's bypass the idiotic lobe of peoples brains.

jaffa20

Matt Simis wrote: »

But Yellow is an excellent looking car colour!?

Eh? It's a personal choice i guess and also depends on the car. Black or dark blue is my personal favourite.

KamiKazi

Racists.

GTE

jaffa20 wrote: »

Black or dark blue is my personal favourite.

:eek:Oh would you please think of the children??????????!!!!????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!:eek:

:P

af_thefragile

What about this then:

jaffa20

af_thefragile wrote: »

What about this then:

ShadowHearth

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

"20-year study revealed black cars to be the most dangerous - and white, gold and yellow to be the safest. The reason lies not in who is behind the wheel, but in the visibility of their vehicle, say the researchers. Black, grey, silver, red and blue fail to stand out against the background of the road, scenery and other traffic"

Im surprised Irish Insurance companies have not copped on to this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288457/Black-cars-likely-involved-accidents.html

shut up, damn you! My insurance is expencive enought!

I actually heard such thing myself, but i thought that silver cars are the worst to see on the roads.

talking about road safety and visability.... turning your lights on at day time is a good start!

af_thefragile

jaffa20 wrote: »

Yeah I'm sure no one would notice a micra regardless what colour it is.

I think for the test to be more through they need to take into account the car model as well. Think of the implications if the insurance companies used this research. You could insure a lime green lamborghini for 500quid while pay over 2k for a micra!!

jaffa20

af_thefragile wrote: »

Yeah I'm sure no one would notice a micra regardless what colour it is.

Good point:D But i was hinting how pink, yellow etc cars coud detract your attention from the road and cause crashes. A lamborghini could do that too but we don't see many of them around.

Run_to_da_hills

ShadowHearth wrote: »

shut up, damn you! My insurance is expencive enought!

I actually heard such thing myself, but i thought that silver cars are the worst to see on the roads.

talking about road safety and visability.... turning your lights on at day time is a good start!

My old man always warned me about black cars being less visible until he picked up a black Golf himself then he shut up about it.

Magenta

As others have said, people need to learn that lights are for BEING SEEN as well as seeing. If you are driving towards the sun, first of all you will often only see the silhouette of the car coming towards you- so them having their lights on is a good idea. Also, if you are driving on a very sunny day and suddenly hit a shaded part of the road (for example an area under trees), it takes your eyes a couple of seconds to adjust- more reason for people to have their lights on.

rabbitinlights

I know this is pretty obvious but the new report doesn't confirm that they allowed for the fact that black is one of (if not) the most popular colours??

Tea_Bag

Report from the Daily Mail is hardly a real report though is it?

Demonon

The 2 cars and jeep in our family are all black and the girlfriends car is black too. Fairly sure the jeep has auto DRLs.

x in the city

Think its bs

its based on the fact they are (apparently) less visible in night and that black is aggressive colour, > sports cars, race drivers yadda yadda

I have a civic coupe dohc vtec years back and it was black.. I will admit I broke a good few rules of the road with it but never crashed it. :rolleyes:

ShadowHearth

x in the city wrote: »

Think its bs

its based on the fact they are (apparently) less visible in night and that black is aggressive colour, > sports cars, race drivers yadda yadda

I have a civic coupe dohc vtec years back and it was black.. I will admit I broke a good few rules of the road with it but never crashed it. :rolleyes:

i think problem is not you crashing it, but people seeing you and crashing in to you. in my opinion its really overated about black color...

I have to admit, i hate when on rainy day people dont turn on theyr lights... Silver cars are really really hard to see in rain withouth lights on, did anyone noticed?

Cookie_Monster

time to put yellow ends on them just like trains :pac:

vectra

ShadowHearth wrote: »

talking about road safety and visability.... turning your lights on at day time is a good start!

LOL
I always used to turn on my parks and fogs during the day as I used to drive with my lights on full time when I robe Motorbikes.
Garda stopped my one day asking (In a not to nice manner) what did I think I was playing at blinding oncoming traffic, to which I replied, " I assume you do not remember the advert on TV many years ago as you would be too young" which was "Turn your lights on during the day" the slogan was "BE SAFE BE SEEN"
he replied, Keep that attitude up with me and you will be seen in court :eek:

Bloody nobber :pac:

Cookie_Monster

vectra wrote: »

LOL
I always used to turn on my parks and fogs during the day as I used to drive with my lights on full time when I robe Motorbikes.
Garda stopped my one day asking (In a not to nice manner) what did I think I was playing at blinding oncoming traffic, to which I replied, " I assume you do not remember the advert on TV many years ago as you would be too young" which was "Turn your lights on during the day" the slogan was "BE SAFE BE SEEN"
he replied, Keep that attitude up with me and you will be seen in court :eek:

Bloody nobber :pac:

he was right though

vectra

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

he was right though

He was,

But think about it
I was driving a black car and he spotted me no problem

ShadowHearth

vectra wrote: »

He was,

But think about it
I was driving a black car and he spotted me no problem

indeed lol :P

eastmeath

Not a lot of point having fog lights and being seen, if you're being seen by the person you've completely blinded, and who is now crashing into you because of it.

I hate seeing fog lights on when there's no fog - idiots who think they can use them as spot lights.

I'm heartened to hear that some Gardai are still pulling people up on it.

Absolutely agree with using dips though (loved my Volvo for that, when I had it - although amazing how many people would flash their lights to alert me that mine were on!).

vectra

eastmeath wrote: »

Not a lot of point having fog lights and being seen, if you're being seen by the person you've completely blinded, and who is now crashing into you because of it.

I hate seeing fog lights on when there's no fog - idiots who think they can use them as spot lights.

I'm heartened to hear that some Gardai are still pulling people up on it.

Absolutely agree with using dips though (loved my Volvo for that, when I had it - although amazing how many people would flash their lights to alert me that mine were on!).

This was in the day's before drl's etc.
and stop talking rubbish about being blinded by foglights during the daylight,
Only old fogies with terrible eyesight complain about matters like that and at that point their eyesight is so bad they shouldn't be driving at all :pac:

dudara

I definitely would agree with the point about silver/gray cars being hard to see at times - wouldn't have necessarily thought it about black cars.

vectra - fog lights aren't really that bright, but if your'e driving in dusky conditions and you meet a string of cars with fog lights on - trust me, you will want to get your hurley out and smash each and every foglight on those cars.

vectra

dudara wrote: »

I definitely would agree with the point about silver/gray cars being hard to see at times - wouldn't have necessarily thought it about black cars.

vectra - fog lights aren't really that bright, but if your'e driving in dusky conditions and you meet a string of cars with fog lights on - trust me, you will want to get your hurley out and smash each and every foglight on those cars.

Understood,
But I did say I used them in Daylight,
Once dusk came along it was dips

Anan1

vectra wrote: »

This was in the day's before drl's etc.
and stop talking rubbish about being blinded by foglights during the daylight,
Only old fogies with terrible eyesight complain about matters like that and at that point their eyesight is so bad they shouldn't be driving at all :pac:

The closer a car's lights are to the road, the farther away it appears at first glance (remember the 'small/far away cow analogy from Father Ted?;)). This is why dips are safer than foglights even during daylight.

samsemtex

Silver cars are impossible to see coming off motorway off ramps. There is an off ramp that i take from the M8 just outside mitchelstown and the amount of times I have been about to drive out on to the roundabout only to see a silver car appear is shocking. Its never happened with any other car and I think it is because they blend in with the guard rails of the bridge which the silver car is crossing.

They should paint those rails blue or something because there are way too many silver cars on the road.

eastmeath

@ Vectra, I'm not a blind old fogey (otherwise I wouldn't be able to type this!), but I do wear glasses and there is an issue with the glare of foglights off my windscreen coupled with the effect of my wearing glasses which I fear you haven't factored into the equation. I could get contacts, but then I'd prefer if people didn't use their fog lights when it's not foggy!

I won't be pulled by the Gardai for wearing glasses. Hopefully people using foglights when it's not foggy will be :cool:

smash

vectra wrote: »

LOL
I always used to turn on my parks and fogs during the day as I used to drive with my lights on full time when I robe Motorbikes.
Garda stopped my one day asking (In a not to nice manner) what did I think I was playing at blinding oncoming traffic, to which I replied, " I assume you do not remember the advert on TV many years ago as you would be too young" which was "Turn your lights on during the day" the slogan was "BE SAFE BE SEEN"
he replied, Keep that attitude up with me and you will be seen in court :eek:

Bloody nobber :pac:

Fog lights are blinding, there on a vehicle to increase visibility when it's foggy! You were a danger to other road users. :rolleyes:

el dude

Oh, it's one of the Daily Mails "scientific studies" stories.

GTE

steve06 wrote: »

Fog lights are blinding.

Only at dusk/night, unless they were installed badly then they blind all the time.

Mycroft H

Daytime running lamps should be standard eu wide theses days......

Anything thats increases your visibility on the road is a good thing.

keithclancy

landyman wrote: »

Daytime running lamps should be standard eu wide theses days......

Anything thats increases your visibility on the road is a good thing.

Wish i could turn off the DRL's on my Volvo.... replacing bulbs .. **grumble grumble**

vectra

eastmeath wrote: »

@ Vectra, I'm not a blind old fogey (otherwise I wouldn't be able to type this!), but I do wear glasses and there is an issue with the glare of foglights off my windscreen coupled with the effect of my wearing glasses which I fear you haven't factored into the equation.

If factory fitted foglights blind you in pure daylight then you have a serious eye problem or else the foglights in question are way out of focus.

eastmeath wrote: »

I won't be pulled by the Gardai for wearing glasses.

Unless you never specified on your licence that you wear them

steve06 wrote: »

Fog lights are blinding, there on a vehicle to increase visibility when it's foggy! You were a danger to other road users. :rolleyes:

Read above regarding using them during daylight.

bbk wrote: »

Only at dusk/night, unless they were installed badly then they blind all the time.

Thank god somebody sees sense in my post.:rolleyes:

The only time Foglights annoy me or affect my vision abilities is when I am following a car in the dusk/dark during rain and the driver has the rear foglights on :mad:

GTE

landyman wrote: »

Daytime running lamps should be standard eu wide theses days......

Anything thats increases your visibility on the road is a good thing.

They are meant to be in Ireland in the next few years.

limklad

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

"20-year study revealed black cars to be the most dangerous - and white, gold and yellow to be the safest. The reason lies not in who is behind the wheel, but in the visibility of their vehicle, say the researchers. Black, grey, silver, red and blue fail to stand out against the background of the road, scenery and other traffic"

Im surprised Irish Insurance companies have not copped on to this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288457/Black-cars-likely-involved-accidents.html

dailymail wrote:

They said that although their findings seem to suggest that steering customers away from black cars would make the roads safer, this might not necessarily be the case.
This is because having lots more white cars on the road would mean there was less contrast between vehicles and so make them harder to spot.
Researcher Dr Stuart Newstead said: 'Whilst campaigns to modify vehicle colour choice could alter the crash risk for the fleet, colour is a much less influential crash risk modifier than behavioural traits such as drink-driving, and speeding.
'It may be possible that simple solutions such as the use of daytime running lights or headlights could effectively negate the elevated risks of higher risk vehicle colours.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288457/Black-cars-likely-involved-accidents.html#ixzz0rm0KwrMk

If all cars are the same colour then you will not likely to see another car moving out of position until it is too late. They just need more random colours of cars out there to noticed. I am surprise than Black is higher risk especially during the day because everything is bright and it is black, stark contrast and is easily noticeable. I would have though beige/light brown/grey colours are less noticeable in urban backgrounds and green for rural areas.

One thing for sure, Having your lights on during the day makes more sense no matter what colour your car is.

R.O.R

bbk wrote: »

They are meant to be in Ireland in the next few years.

Coming through as standard on more and more cars, usually towards the higher end of the specification though.

Interestingly, the Skoda ones are where you'd expect fog lights be. Enquired as to why my collegue was driving with his fogs on when we both went to fuel a couple of Superbs, only to be asked the same question. Both made sure we hadn't go them switched on so they must be DRL's rather than fogs.

Magenta

vectra wrote: »

Understood,
But I did say I used them in Daylight,
Once dusk came along it was dips

Why don't you just use your Dips in daylight so, instead of your fogs and parking lights together?

GTE

Magenta wrote: »

Why don't you just use your Dips in daylight so, instead of your fogs and parking lights together?

From a light output point of view Id say its because the fog design that lets the light cut through the natural light that bit better then dips. That is the reason why they are such a bad thing in dusk and night but during the day they cut through better.

I think both dipped and fog lights are 55watts, its just about the lens/design used. If you look at a dipped light the bulb is capped with some metal so if you look directly at the light housing you cant see it. I dont think the fog is like that so the fog bulb throws out more light in a way.

Usually the fog lights are angled down towards the ground so they can do their job, which is why they shouldn't blind people in the day but its when the day turns to night that not having any cap at the end of the bulb can cause problems.

pitkan

Henry Ford, among other things, is famously remembered for saying about his early cars `You can have any colour as long as it is black`. So, it must have been mayhem back then on the roads.