According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the most likely cause of car accidents is driver behavior. Their research shows that 94% of accidents result from driver errors rather than factors relating to weather, roads, or vehicles. Research also suggests a relationship between car color and crash risk.
Experts have proposed many theories about how car color might affect a driver’s perception. But the role that car color played in your crash may depend on how it happened.
An attorney from Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers can use expert testimony to pin the blame for your collision on the at-fault driver rather than the color of your vehicle. Contact our law office at (904) 396-1100 for a free initial consultation with a car accident lawyer in Jacksonville, FL.
How Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Car Accident in Jacksonville, FL
Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers was founded to help injured victims in Jacksonville, Florida. Since 2012, our Jacksonville car accident attorneys have built a reputation for outstanding client service and top results.
If you get injured in a car crash, our personal injury law firm provides:
- A free consultation to discuss your injuries and how we can seek compensation for them
- A legal team with over 80 years of combined experience to prepare your insurance claim
- Fearless litigators to fight insurers in court if they refuse to settle
A car accident claim can require skill and knowledge to resolve on fair terms. Contact Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your case and how we can help you pursue compensation.
How Many Jacksonville Crashes Might Be Affected By Car Color?
Car color probably does not cause car crashes. Instead, car color can amplify the effects of dangerous driver behaviors, like driving under the influence. For example, a common cause of car accidents is improper surveillance. This error happens when drivers merge, turn, or change lanes without looking carefully for other vehicles.
Some scenarios where car color might affect a driver’s ability to spot vehicles include:
- Dark cars being difficult to spot on unlit roads or parking lots at night
- White and silver cars producing glare in sunlight
- Gray and silver cars not standing out in rain or fog
Looking at the Florida Crash Dashboard, Duval County had 24,358 total traffic accidents in 2022. This number included:
This leaves 23,057 multi-vehicle collisions.
According to the NHTSA’s study, 0.34% of crashes — which translates to about 78 crashes in Jacksonville — happen due to glare. Using the numbers from the Crash Facts report for 2021, roughly 5.7% of crashes in Florida happen on dark roads with no lighting. This means about 1,311 crashes in Jacksonville likely occurred on dark roads.
At most, car color could have played a role in 1,389 crashes that may have involved glare or darkness.
Which Car Colors Might Have an Increased Risk of Crashes?
Three studies have looked at car color and crash risk and reached conflicting conclusions about which colors have the greatest impact. This means that the at-fault driver and their insurance company probably cannot use these studies in court because expert witnesses must use reliable science. These conflicts underline the unreliability of the science behind the influence of car color on crash risk.
The University of Auckland Study
The first widely published study about car color and crashes came from the University of Auckland. This study looked at crash records covering roughly 14 months. The data from these records was cleaned to control for factors such as drug and alcohol use, lighting and weather conditions, and driver experience.
The researchers used white cars as the standard for comparison. The data showed the following:
- Silver and gray cars had a lower risk of crashing than white cars
- Black, green, and brown cars had a higher risk of crashing than white cars
This study found no statistically significant effect on crash risk for blue, red, or yellow cars.
The Monash University Study
The second study was performed at Monash University in Australia. This study used a much larger sample set, including crash records from over 855,000 accidents covering 22 years.
This study showed an increased crash risk for five colors:
- Red, blue, and green cars had a slightly higher crash risk
- Gray and silver had a significantly higher crash risk
The remaining colors had roughly the same level of crash risk.
The Kunsan National University Study
The professors at Kunsan National University in South Korea performed the third study, which surveyed cars at wrecking yards instead of reviewing accident reports.
It ranked colors by crash risk as follows:
- Blue and green had a higher crash risk than white
- Red, black, silver, brown, and yellow had a lower crash risk than white
These conclusions disagree with the University of Auckland study and the Monash University study except for one color. All three studies agreed that green cars had a higher-than-average crash risk.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Jacksonville Car Accident Lawyers
Car accidents can happen regardless of the color of your car. Contact Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers at (904) 396-1100 for a free consultation to discuss how we can prove who bears the fault for your crash.
