Just to stir up the pot a little more, here is an article by New Scientist mag about why my Alpine Silver Lexus is the right choice. I did not ad this to the other thread as it was getting off subject.

Silver cars are the safest on the road

By Shaoni Bhattacharya

Silver cars are much less likely to be involved in a serious crash than cars of other colours, suggests a new study of over 1000 cars.
People driving in silver cars were 50 per cent less likely to suffer serious injury in a crash compared with drivers of white cars, the research in New Zealand found.
White, yellow, grey, red and blue cars carried about the same risk of injury. But those taking to the roads in black, brown or green cars were twice as likely to suffer a crash with serious injury.
Sue Furness, at the University of Auckland, led the study but says the team does not know why silver cars appear safer. "We think it may be due to a combination of light colour and high reflectivity," she speculates.
She suggests that increasing the proportion of silver cars on the road might provide a "passive strategy" to cut car crash injuries.
"If there's proof that certain colours are safer and easier to see in all road conditions that might be useful to people in terms of purchasing a car," says Roger Vincent, of the UK Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. But he adds: "A lot of people will buy things purely on fashion."
Engine size
In their study, Furness and her colleagues took into account the engine size, make and age of the car, as well the sex, age, socio-economic status and ethnicity of the drivers. They also controlled for road conditions and ambient light conditions.

But Vincent says other factors could be important, such as the way people view different colours, how many miles the car has on the clock and the background being driven against.
The data was gathered from reports of road crashes in the Auckland area between 1998 and 1999. Silver cars made up about 11 per cent of the fleet analysed and were the fourth most popular car colour after white, blue and red.
Metallic finish cars, such as silver ones, are more expensive, but Furness does not believe this is an important factor. "From these controlled data it seems unlikely that the explanation for silver cars being associated with a lower risk of car crash injury is related to the price or 'quality' of the vehicle," she told New Scientist.

Journal reference: British Medical Journal (vol 327, p 1455)

 

I read this before but never get tired of reading it ! Other than this we all know silver is the best color anyway..

 

ya i remember someone posting this same type of info lasy year, its cool how they r able 2 find this out tho

 

well, i have a silver GS so i like to hear stuff like that, but i have to be honest... i dont get how this makes ANY sense it just seems to me that the color of the car really has no significance to accidents. and i dont mean to contadict myself, but when i got into my last accident, the color of the car was a dark green and the old lady that turned in front of me said she didnt see me coming... maybe if i was driving a silver car, she would have seen me hmmm, maybe it makes some sense???

 

I'm going to move this to the car chat section for more views on this.

 

It's because most people who buy Silver cars are responsible "give me a easy responsible silver car" They are people who aren't trying to make a statement. Where as Red, yellow, and even blue colors seem to be attention cars. Look at me..... My car is tight! .......THen we have our Blacks and whites which is usually just preference. To me, an Owner wants black to flow and look elegant etc etc..... People chosing these colors other then Silver are more into Driving and probably show off their car and do stupid stuff.

haha i dont know if anything I just said has any revelance but hey..... I have a black ride and love it. I could care less. But I also love silvers also.

My list goes
1.Black
2.Silver
3.White
4.Bronze
5.Cinnabar
6.etcetc

 

My last 3 cars have been silver, all with no accidents. I like silver for the ease of care, plus it looks sharp. The biggest factor also is that it's the only color that usually comes w/ a black interior I do wish Lexus would come out w/ a steel gray/gun metal (maybe a lighter Flint Mica?) The new F150's has a sexy bronzy/gray paint job that would look sweet on any Lexus.

 

I still think black is true VIP/'Gangsta color. Blue is next on the list in my preferences.

 

i would think white would be the safest in terms of visibility during day and night. if im not mistaken, the insurance goes up if your car happens to be red, at least that's what a honda salesperson once told me when my cousin and i were looking at a civic. oh by the way... dwp OnWz yoo!

 

I used to and still think black is one of the hardest colors to keep clean, but now I've discovered that the efforts are well worth it in the end. Aero-modded or not, black shines the best on a clear sunny day, and looks stealthy too. To be honest, I don't think I could ever own another non-black car

 

Perhaps this may be the case in New Zealand.....I've never been there and have never seen what type of materials they pave the roads with there, what color they are, or how this contrasts with silver cars there, so I can't comment on their findings.
Here in America, though, while I have not seen any concrete ( no pun intended ) figures on this, most roads in the U.S. are paved with a light gray asphalt that certainly would not contrast well with a silver or light gray color car. I personally find a silver car just about the hardest one to see from a distance, especially on a dull, rainy cloudy day....where the light gray fog blends in with the paint even more. Generally under these conditions, white, yellow, and orange stand out the most.....which is why the Coast Guard uses this for its search-and-rescue aircraft, there visibility is all-important.

 

I totally agree with you. I once had a silver 86 Buick Century in college. A lady hit me on the side as she pulled out of a shopping center. I saw her pulling out just 10 ft ahead of me and honked the horn. She claimed she didn't see me... I personally think a silver car is one of the most difficult to spot on the road.

 

I echo these sentiments as was the case during an altercation I had with a friend not too long ago.

-Anthony

 

I think this "finding" is as ridiculous as saying "people who use Tampax are more likely to buy more skincare products".

Silver cars are less seen in accidents not because the color is safer or makes the car any bit less likely to be hit, but simply because it's the color conservative, non-flashy people buy the most!! Conservative drivers, contrary to aggressive drivers, are generally less likely to cause accidents. It's that simple! No color will save you if you drive aggressively.

You don't take the result of a cause and call it the cause of another result of the same cause--it's just that the two results happen to derive from the same cause!

 

I'm not sure you could call silver a "conservative" color anymore...both silver and black ( the traditional limo and funeral hearse color ) are quite popular today with sports cars and sports sedans. They have even become popular Ferrari colors.
Tan and beige are probably the most "conservative" colors today.
You are correct, though, about aggressive drivers being more likely to cause accidents. A fairly high proportion of the fatal acidents I see in my region ( Wash. DC area) involve aggressive drivers, alcohol, and one specific car....the Mustang GT / Cobra. I won't pan all V8 Mustang drivers....there are some good ones....but more than any other car on the market, I see guys with Mustang GT's, Cobras, and SVT's doing more crazy and stupid things than with any other single car.