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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Choosing the color of a new car is often a matter of style and personal taste, but for safety, silver might be the best choice, suggest the findings of a new study from New Zealand.
"Our study has found an association between silver car color and reduced risk of car crash injury," Sue Furness of the University of Auckland told Reuters Health.
"If there is a choice of vehicle color, choosing silver or white as opposed to brown, black or green may be a passive injury prevention strategy," said Furness, who is the lead author of the report in the December 20/27 issue of the British Medical Journal.
Exactly why silver cars are less likely to be involved in injury-causing crashes is uncertain, Furness said. "The only other study I identified which looked at car color found that white and light vehicles were associated with reduced risk of car crash injury."
It is possible, according to the New Zealand researcher, that silver cars are involved in less injury-causing accidents because silver is both light and reflective. But she stressed that this explanation is just speculation and has not been proven.
More research is needed, Furness said, to determine why silver cars seem to be safer than other cars, as well as to see whether silver cars are safer in other settings besides New Zealand.
Furness and her colleagues compared 571 drivers who were involved in car crash that caused serious injury or death and 588 drivers who were not involved in an accident.
In their analysis of the data, the researchers made adjustments to account for the possible effects of several factors, including age and sex of the driver, education level, recent alcohol consumption, road type and condition, and vehicle age and speed.
Although previous research found light or white cars to be safer than darker vehicles, Furness and her team found that silver cars were safest. Drivers of silver cars were 50 percent less likely to be involved in a crash that caused serious injury than white cars.
In contrast, drivers of brown vehicles were most likely to be involved in crashes. Injury-causing accidents were also more common in green and black cars. The researchers point out, though, that the green and brown categories included cars in a variety of shades of those colors.
Compared to drivers of white cars, drivers of yellow, gray, red and blue cars were no more likely to be seriously injured in a crash.
In her comments to Reuters Health, Furness noted that silver was the popular color for new cars in 2001.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, December 20-27, 2003.
"Our study has found an association between silver car color and reduced risk of car crash injury," Sue Furness of the University of Auckland told Reuters Health.
"If there is a choice of vehicle color, choosing silver or white as opposed to brown, black or green may be a passive injury prevention strategy," said Furness, who is the lead author of the report in the December 20/27 issue of the British Medical Journal.
Exactly why silver cars are less likely to be involved in injury-causing crashes is uncertain, Furness said. "The only other study I identified which looked at car color found that white and light vehicles were associated with reduced risk of car crash injury."
It is possible, according to the New Zealand researcher, that silver cars are involved in less injury-causing accidents because silver is both light and reflective. But she stressed that this explanation is just speculation and has not been proven.
More research is needed, Furness said, to determine why silver cars seem to be safer than other cars, as well as to see whether silver cars are safer in other settings besides New Zealand.
Furness and her colleagues compared 571 drivers who were involved in car crash that caused serious injury or death and 588 drivers who were not involved in an accident.
In their analysis of the data, the researchers made adjustments to account for the possible effects of several factors, including age and sex of the driver, education level, recent alcohol consumption, road type and condition, and vehicle age and speed.
Although previous research found light or white cars to be safer than darker vehicles, Furness and her team found that silver cars were safest. Drivers of silver cars were 50 percent less likely to be involved in a crash that caused serious injury than white cars.
In contrast, drivers of brown vehicles were most likely to be involved in crashes. Injury-causing accidents were also more common in green and black cars. The researchers point out, though, that the green and brown categories included cars in a variety of shades of those colors.
Compared to drivers of white cars, drivers of yellow, gray, red and blue cars were no more likely to be seriously injured in a crash.
In her comments to Reuters Health, Furness noted that silver was the popular color for new cars in 2001.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, December 20-27, 2003.
