This entry highlights what the safest car colour is, which could minimise car accidents. White Car Dr Newstead, the author of the recent Vehicle Colour Study, carried out by Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC); found that the safest car colour is white. And you might be curious what the least safe colour is then. Yes the opposite colour, black, were found most likely to be involved in an accident.

To be more precise, black vehicles were found had a 12 per cent higher crash risk than white cars. What’s surprising is silver, a very popular colour these recent years, had a ten per cent higher crash risk than white. This should be of particular concern, given the high sales volume of silver cars not only in Australia but also in other countries including Indonesia.

It is stated that silver and black get easily lost in the road environment and is a factor in higher severity crashes. Silver has low contrast with the road environment even in good conditions. In wet and cloudy conditions, furthermore, silver has lack of visibility. This means less time for other drivers to react to an incipient accident situation which leads to more crashes and higher severity crashes for drivers of silver cars.

Recent statistics indicate that silver makes up around a third of new vehicles sold, with white at a fifth and black at a tenth.

Some reasons why silver cars are getting popular are fashion, resale value, and prestige. It is also generally speaking that white colour, even though it’s safe, has lower resale value.

Hopefully, eventually safety will triumph over fashion and asset protection and more people selecting white as their car colour. Is that possible?