Damn! I thought that I might have a little experience on this topic since I was a police officer for over 30+ years, but I guess I'm wrong. Now you're telling me I could have written more speeding tickets if I would have just focused on red cars.

 

Very informative. Thanks!

 

You missed your chance.

 

White Paper
July 20, 2004
Page 3

"In preparing this paper, very little information was found specifically on car color and safety. People assume that yellow is the safest color because it is used for school buses. However, when the National Conference on School Transportation chose the color in 1939, nothing was mentioned about the expected effect on traffic safety. Similarly, many people think red is a safe and conspicuous vehicle color because fire trucks are red; again we found no research supporting this belief.

Of the two studies identified that actually sought to test the association between vehicle color and crash involvement, one found that silver cars were least likely to be involved in injury crashes (Furness 2003), and the other found that white or yellow cars were least likely to be struck by other drivers who committed infractions (Lardell-Claret 2002). The finding that silver cars were safest was contradicted by many anecedotes of silver being seemingly invisible to other people and animals, especially against the sunset.

When choosing a vehicle, the bottom line is that there is presently no evidence supporting the selection of one particular vehicle color as the unambiguous best choise for safety."

A reporter in Florida conducted a survey to see if red cars receive more traffic tickets than other colors. He found that if you drive a grey car, you're more likely to get stopped. If you go to Snopes.com, you'll find some interesting reading on this "myth" under Rumor Has It. You'll also find that many police officers agree that it's the violation that attracts their attention to a vehicle, not the color.

 

I don't know about the safety issue, but as for "attention grabbing" colors, I don't buy it. IMO


You can't tell me that a black of gray car catches the eye as much as a red or yellow car.

 

All I'm saying is that red never attracted my attention more than any other color when it came to traffic violations. If red is such an "attention grabbing" color, then everyone should be driving red vehicles because in theory, they're safer and less likely to be involved in a crash.

Many of the law enforcement agencies and fire departments in the Chicago area have gone to white police cars and ambulances. There are a few fire departments who have switched to lime green equipment because it's more visible. If you look at some of the newer road signs, they also have a lime green background.

In addition, color has nothing to do with stop sign, red light, lane usage or equipment violations. When I was monitoring traffic with radar, it was the faster movement of a vehicle that caught my eye, not the color.

 

NO! BAD IDEA! We would constantly be stopped by the cops.