When you’re choosing which car to buy you may just choose the colour that looks the nicest, or perhaps your favourite colour. Maybe you’re one of the people that really doesn’t care so just chooses whichever colour the dealer has in stock or is cheapest! What we don’t think about is how likely the colour of car we chooses will increase or decrease our chances of being involved in a car accident. What we may think about is what the advertisers have fed us over the years E.G. bright reds and yellows as faster cars, silver and white are great at hiding scratches, green is becoming more popular in line with all this green living, and gold shades hide dirt better. But studies are showing there is a lot more at stake, like your driving safety and potential car accident risk.
Researchers in Australia believe they have discovered a link between car accident risk and the colour of your car. Many large insurance companies actually use this in their quotes and premiums. So certain color choices can and do lead to higher rates and significantly higher car accident risks. And if you think about it, insurance companies spend millions of dollars on great research to find out what causes car accidents and what lowers them. So, this is not some out of the blue idea. Certain color choices will definitely increase your car accident risks and should be avoided.
There is a popular urban legend that says that people who own red cars get more speeding tickets than people with other colour cars. Well the owners of such cars do seem to back up this legend, but it’s still not proven yet.
Could it be that drivers who drive red cars do actually drive faster and have more car accidents? The reason they choose red is because it is a racey car indicative of danger, perhaps reflecting their personality? Do owners of red cars get involved in more car accidents.
Two questions prevail here.
1) Does your personality type indicate how likely you are to be involved in a car accident?
2) Can your personality type be guessed from the colour of car that you drive (and this in turn reveal how likely or not you are to be involved ina car accident)?
Red Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
A New Zealand study of serious car accidents conducted by Furness et al. found that red cars had a higher likelihood of being involved in car accidents than grays, silvers, and blues, but lower chance of being involved in a car accident than blacks, and much lower than browns and yellows.
Yellow Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found yellow car owners are often associated with an upbeat, optimistic personality.
The New Zealand car accident study found that drivers of yellow cars may be a little too optimistic. They had the highest percentage of car accidents in relation to their total numbers, although the likelihood of having a car accident was reduced significantly when the researchers controlled for driver age, speed, use of drugs and alcohol, and other factors.
Green Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found that green car drivers are perhaps a little too whimsical – this colour was associated with hysterical tendencies.
Green cars showed a similar risk to red in the New Zealand car accident study. Was this high car accident rate due to the driver’s hysterical tendencies?
Blue Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found drivers of blue cars to be more cautious and introspective, on average.
In the New Zealand study, blue cars had a slightly lower risk of being involved in car accidents than red, green, or black, and a much lower risk than yellow or brown.
Gray Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found gray cars owners to be sober, calm, and hardworking.
Supporting these associations, the New Zealand study found gray cars to have a relatively low car accident rate compared to most other colours.
White Car Personality and Car Accident Risk nRisk
The UK study found that white cars were often preferred by status-seeking extroverts, and the New Zealand car accident study found that white cars had a mid-range car accident rate, similar to that of red and green.
Brown Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found deep brown cars usually state that the owner is down to earth, and lighter brown or tan can hint at taste in simplicity.
In the New Zealand car accident study, the car accident rate for brown cars was second only to yellow. So maybe being down to earth doesn’t mean so in touch with nature that you are saved from being more at risk from having a car accident.
Silver Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found silver car owners to be calm, cool, and somewhat detached.
Support for the calm, confident persona is provided by the fact that silver cars had the lowest likelihood of being involved in serious crashes in the New Zealand study.
Pink Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found that pink cars are most commonly driven by gentle, loving people.
This was backed by the New Zealand study that found pink cars were the least likely to be involved in a car accident.
Black Car Personality and Car Accident Risk
The UK study found that black cars were usually driven by aggressive outsiders with a high car accident risk.
The New Zealand car accident data supports the latter two profiles, finding black cars to have a relatively high car accident risk.
So….
Different research has been carried out in different countries without conclusive results except one thing for sure is that red and yellow cars are at the top of the car accident risk list with Black following close behind
Are you paying a higher insurance premium because of the colour of your car? Is your personality a high-risk car accident factor.
Worth looking into don’t you think? It may not just be money that you save.