Nothing could be better for blending into the mist and fog. Except perhaps green cars in green lanes - in Summer.
You would think we would all be driving cars that stand out from their environment. Striped cars or red cars with yellow bands and spots, perhaps.
I wonder how many lives would have been saved if there had been a different approach to visibility - since the dawn of motoring.
Just looking out of the window, this misty morning in Yorkshire. Sure enough - silver cars disappearing into silver mist - no lights.
There was the time I drove an orange coloured Doblo through Germany - and peoples mouths just fell open, in shock, in traffic..
I wounder how a striped and spotted wilderbeest would get along?
|
|
Chap I used to work with some years ago always bought bright yellow cars for visibility reasons. He was an RF engineer though :-)
|
Look at old photos from the 1930s/40s, and it seems that almost every car was black.
Before anybody says it, I realise that black and white photos have that effect (!) but if you look at pictures from those days there were definitely no light coloured cars around. Everything seems to be a dark shade of something, with nothing to brighten up the scenery.
|
>>Sure enough - silver cars disappearing into silver mist - no lights.
The answer Oilrag? DRLs!!!
|
|
|
Look at old photos from the 1930s/40s and it seems that almost every car was black.
They were indeed. People like my father considered anything else was frivolous and non-professional. It led to him taking the wrong Rover from a car park once (yes, the keys fitted). He had gone quite a way before he noticed rubbish which was not his, and had to sneak back and retrieve his own new and rubbish free car from a few places down.
|
|
|
|
Chap I used to work with some years ago always bought bright yellow cars for visibility reasons.
My first two new cars were dark green and dark blue respectively and both received several carpark bumps. After the AA did a survey in the 1970s which showed that yellow cars were less likely to be involved in accidents than any other colour I changed my preference to yellow. When most manufacturers stopped making yellow cars I then changed to the next brightest colour I could get ~ namely bright solid red ~ and that's what I still buy.
I don't care if my car's colour isn't "fashionable", just as long as it's easily visible to other motorists in dull conditions. If it was available I would choose Coventry Fire Service Yellow. This striking colour was reluctantly discontinued by the Coventry Fire Service when the Home Office decreed that all fire service vehicles had to be red.
Edited by L'escargot on 21/01/2010 at 09:44
|
This striking colour was reluctantly discontinued by the Coventry Fire Service when the Home Office decreed that all fire service vehicles had to be red.
tinyurl.com/5s2nsw
|
|
|
|
|
There was the time I drove an orange coloured Doblo through Germany - and peoples mouths just fell open in shock in traffic..
That's because they are very Conservative when it comes to colour (believe it or not). Silver and black are the norm for cars, dark blue is becoming more acceptable, orange - you're just playing mind games with them.
Houses are the same, white walls inside or natural wood colours. None of your pastels or deep dark rich colours.
Edited by gmac on 21/01/2010 at 09:07
|
Houses are the same white walls inside or natural wood colours. None of your pastels or deep dark rich colours.
Not unless you live in Tobermory (watch Balamory on TV where the prog is set). I believe lots of homes in Devon & Cornwall tend to resemble Noel Edmond's Multi-Coloured Swap Shop too
|
|
|
Its nice to see that people are starting to move away from silver cars these days. I think its nice to have a bit of colour and I'm sure that there must be a safety benefit to a brightly coloured car.
I've never owned a silver car and like to think that I never will. Each to their own, but I find silver is too mainstream and incredibly boring!
|
My first car in 1967 was a white convertible made (and painted) in 1947.
By accident most of my cars since then have been white too.
Nothing would induce me to own a car in boring silver - about as naff as painting my front railings in Hammerite silver.
|
|
|
I have a silver car. ButI agree that silver is boring and poorly visble in a lot of weather conditions.
However its not all bad, silver is one of the best colurs I have ever seen at not looking dirty easily.
|
|
|
|
The dominant car colour these days seems to be grey. Every car seems to come offering several different shades of it. There have always been grey cars, of course, but there seem to be loads of them about now, and less cars in bright colours.
Grey does have a certain "classiness", like a grey suit, but it isn't to my taste.
I wanted a blue car but SWMBO insisted on silver. :-(
|
I think I remember Mr Clarkson holding up the brochure for some new Audi (A8 perhaps) to the camera, to show the choice of colours. They were all grey (very different shades of grey, obviously).
White seems to be the new silver.
|
>>I think I remember Mr Clarkson holding up the brochure for some new Audi (A8 perhaps) to the camera, to show the choice of colours. They were all grey (very different shades of grey, obviously).
I know what you mean. It is the same with most cars.
I think that I have a split personality. I really like silver as a car colour. I like black, too. That's the boring side of me, and the one everyone sees, since my cars are silver and black.
But I also have a well hidden flamboyant side, because, for some strange reason, I also like orange as car colour - especially Ford Focus ST orange.
|
I liked the orange Doblo, at first. But it got to the point where everyone I knew, knew everywhere I went.
They saw you - but you never saw them. You would get the parts lad at the garage commenting on how often you had been past - and someone else asking if you "liked that take-away"
I tired of it in the end, after around three years.
Of course then - after having moved it on - everyone was commenting on how you had `not been seen` for a few months and why?
I never told some people what I bought next - although the irony is, that the Punto van is the only one of it`s type in town.
Fortunately though - it`s white...
Edited by oilrag on 21/01/2010 at 11:05
|
|
|
|
|
I consider the colour of a car very important for safety. The smaller the car the more important it is, especially at dusk. A motorcyclist on a black bike in black leathers with a black helmet is particularly vunerable.
At junctions some drivers take the most cursory of glances before pulling out and so you only have a fraction of a second to attract their attention.
When I was choosing a colour for my Westfield, black and all the dark colours were discounted straight away. Even with a bright red one it was surprising how many people didn't see you.
|
If you are driving a silver car likely to "disappear" into a "silver" mist, just turn its lights on.
|
makes no difference stuartli,if you are at a t junction and a silver car of the right silver is approaching from the left and going the (right /wrong) speed and the background is the wrong colour then its easy to miss a silver car (got the badge but saw him just in time thankfully).
for the same reason i dont like bush green cars overtaking as they come towards me on country roads
|
>>..and a silver car of the right silver..>>
I have a silver car (VW Reflex Silver) and can't say that the colour has brought any recognisable problems.
As for green cars, it was always considered in my family to be an unlucky colour for a vehicle, although I did once have a dark green Hillman Minx, the last of the range, with the 1725cc engine later used in the Hunter.
Edited by Stuartli on 21/01/2010 at 14:21
|
|
|
|
|
some cars around manchester drive with no lights or just sidelights on, no matter what the weather or conditions are, some seem to think they are motorbikes, as they only have 1 headlight and some that i see everday on the same trip to work have been like that well before winter.
|
Nissan used to do a 'nice' shade of dark metallic gey that blended in really well with tarmac.
Perhaps they were trying to make a stealth micra.
|
|
Perhaps they did and you've never noticed one !
|
I've seen a growing number of matt black cars around.
They are only marginally more visible than James Bond's Aston Martin in Die Another Day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oilrag said:"Nothing could be better for blending into the mist and fog.
Some of us use dipped headlamps...and fog lamps..
Which is what they are designed for.
Mind you, some of these older motorists are so set in their ways they are worried about the ability of the car's dynamo to charge the battery :-)
|
|
I trickle charge every Sunday while I'm changing the oil.
|
Is that a euphemism, MM?
};---)
The Beest household consists of a silver car and a dark green one - and we do use the headlamps a lot, even in summer. I'd have preferred both cars in bright blue, but neither maker offered anything so jolly. Toyota's colour range was drab to the point of being coma-inducing.
|
With all those weekly checks on the car to do no time for anything else on a Sunday!
With regard to colour my just sold Mondeo III Estate of two years was met silver. When washed with attention to properly cleaning the 17" alloys it sparkled and looked very good for its era. Mind you there are so many silver Mondeos in any one row at Tesco you have to look hard for your own car.
I once opened the back door or someone elses to put my shopping in (having walked towards it and plipped). I saw stuff on the back seat that I didn't expect and turned to the kids saying "who's put all that junk on the seat". At that point the previously unseen lady in the drivers seat turned round with some concern!!
I did always like the look of a dark met green one I see most days on the school run, not nearly so many in that colour.
SWMBO's new to her C3 is met silver. She decided to buy the right car and have almost any met colour (except white) that was offered. In truth it does look a little ordinary.
Edited by M.M on 21/01/2010 at 14:24
|
>>I wonder how many lives would have been saved if there had been a different approach to visibility - since the dawn of motoring.
It just struck me that I cannot remember a single instance of a road safety campaigner (or politician) calling for a ban on silver, grey, and tarmac coloured cars.
Have I been inattentive, or is this a wheeze they haven't yet come up with?
|
Have I been inattentive or is this a wheeze they haven't yet come up with?
That's it, you've gone and done it now! ;-)
I like silver, as much for the fact it has to be REALLY filthy before it shows the dirt. The Golf's in Reflex Silver, and it hides my dislike of washing cars really rather well.
|
>>..it has to be REALLY filthy before it shows the dirt..>>
Mine, as stated earlier, is the same colour and you are quite right.
|
My first 2 cars were different shades of blue. The only accident (touch wood) that I've had was when driving a dark blue fiesta across a mini roundabout. I was 3/4 of the way across when a large transit van ploughed into the side of me. He admitted it was his fault and said he just didn't see me. It was lunchtime on a sunny, dry day so visibility was excellent. I was lucky that it was all eventually sorted out in my favour (lovely taxi driver came back after dropping a passenger off to give me his witness details).
After that incident I always drive with at least my side lights on. The car I drive now is a bright yellow Jazz and I love the fact that it's hard to miss! Finding it in a car park is easy and it's bright colour lifts the spirits! Not the most subtle of vehicles though!
I too, can't believe the high proportion of people that drive in near zero visibility with no lights on. Thick fog in Sussex the other day and plenty of people pootling about in silver/dark cars with no lights on. I even saw a near miss on a dual carriageway where a driver pulled out of a garden centre at dusk not having seen the oncoming silver car (no lights) that was in front of a darker car with lights. I'd be quite happy to have a car with side lights that come on with the ignition (like the Volvo)
|
|
Jane - don't worry. Soon all cars will have driving lights which come on when you start the engine. It's an EU thing, and one that I agree with (a bit of a first for me).
|
|
|
I'd be quite happy to have a car with side lights that come on with the ignition (like the Volvo)
>>
You will soon be happy then, Daylight running lights will soon be mandatory on all new cars.
Great minds eh, LDO? The sooner the better!
Edited by Old Navy on 22/01/2010 at 14:35
|
>>I like silver, as much for the fact it has to be REALLY filthy before it shows the dirt.
And the back of my (silver) Berlingo WAS really filthy earlier this month. Completely brown - dirtier than I've ever seen it in 8 years - thanks to the fact that Highland Council did a superb job of gritting the roads during the snowy spell.
|
Oh, and on the subject of car colours, here are the most popular colours of cars for sale as described by sellers (courtesy of Autotrader!).
1. Silver (92,676)
2. Blue (73,052)
3. Black (61,260)
4. Grey (35,167)
5. Red (30,492)
6. Green (12,888)
7. White (5,324)
8. Gold (2,575)
9. Yellow (2,253)
10. Beige (2,103)
11. Orange (1,489)
12. Purple (770)
13. Turquoise (336)
14. Bronze (272)
15. Burgundy (263)
16. Maroon (229)
17. Brown (184)
18. Indigo (126)
19. Magenta (112)
20. Navy (67)
21. Pink (61)
Interesting that over 80% of cars are either silver, black, blue, or grey.
|
>>Daylight running lights will soon be mandatory on all new cars>>
But will still only be a small proportion of the total number of vehicles on our roads.
|
But will still only be a small proportion of the total number of vehicles on our roads.
With a company car lease averaging three years it wont take long for the majority of cars to be DRL'd. It will become risky to drive a car without DRL's when the majority have them. I wonder if it will be factored into insurance rates?
Edited by Old Navy on 22/01/2010 at 15:45
|
I wonder if it is the same individuals behind DRL's who were behind catalytic converters ?
It can only be a good thing in forcing bulb technology forward. If everyone experiences the same bulb usage as I have with DRL then buy your shares now.
I went through four sets of headlight bulbs in twenty-one months before having them deactivated. In previous cars I averaged one bulb every three to four years.
Edited by gmac on 22/01/2010 at 15:55
|
|
I would think the DRL's will be LED's, not headlights.
|
You could be right.
Certainly on more expensive cars probably not on a sub £6k hatch though.
|
|
My crystal ball thinks that LED's will eventually replace most incandescent lights.
|
|
|
|
