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Certain paint colors = less visible to other drivers

K

Kats66Pny

Active Member
Something I never really thought about but was discussed last week with someone at our weekly meet.

I was talking to this lady who has a 13yr old daughter who LOVES mustangs. Her dream car is a red 66 coupe...so when they saw mine she made her parents stop so she could look. They've been up at the meets a few times now. I told the girl she can sit in Gert if she wants and her face just lit up. Think I made her day and years down the road there will be another female classic mustang lover out there. :vic

Anyway, I was saying how I was thinking of painting Gert a dark silver and she (the mom) was saying she's had atleast 5 silverish colored cars over the last several years and everytime she drove, someone almost hit her. A silver color is less visible to other drivers. Makes sense. Never really thought about that before. You'll see a bright grabber orange way before you see a silver car. Maybe I shouldn't paint Gert pewter silver. :amaz

Anyone with a silverish colored car notice other drivers don't see you as well?
 
"Kats66Pny" said:
Anyone with a silverish colored car notice other drivers don't see you as well?
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Nope.......cuz I stay in front......or is it the loud pipes........either way, no problem with that and the last three cars.
 
Yes. I travel and rent cars a fair amount. The silver & white cars seem to be nearly invisible to some drivers.
 
I had never thought of this either until I ordered my 2011. I was on the fence with colors. My salesman walked me to the road in front of the dealership and the gray cars do blend in to the road more so than the brighter colors. It wouldn't sway my decision, but I thought it was an interesting point.
 
"70 StangMan" said:
I'm quite sure that no PT drivers have ever seen Mark's Silver Blue car. :vic
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They just haven't seen the back of the car. The front shows up in the mirror all the time. :lol
 
Now that I think back to the colors of cars I've had... the ONLY one I ever got into an accident with *knock on wood*, was my silver Ford Probe. All other vehicles have been white (Eclipse, Ford F-150, Minivan, Sebring vert), had a couple red (truck and an SUV and now Gert) and one light blue Dodge Shadow (my first car). I wasn't speeding or driving like like a crazy 19yr old with a sporty car. I was on my way to work, doing 35mph going through town in Escondido CA to the Wild Animal Park. Some kid thought he could make a left turn (coming from the opposite direction) before I reached the intersection or possibly didn't see me. Either way, we hit head on and my Probe was totalled before I could even make the first months payment on it. :cry
 
A few weeks ago I was driving home at dusk and it was a generally stormy day, no longer raining but still overcast and late in the day so visibility generally not that good. 99% of drivers had their headlights on, and while changing lanes, I cut off a lady in a silver colored sedan. Wasn't intentional, she didn't have her lights on and I didn't see her. She ended up passing me as the road opened up (downtown it opens up from 4 lanes to 10 lanes across). At the next light I got out of the car, walked up to her window and she rolled it down for me and I apologized to her for cutting her off and told her that without her lights on her car was invisible.

I don't think anybody has a hard time seeing a car at high noon on a blue sky day. But if you look around the next time it is overcast or hazy, etc, generally poor visibility conditions, the silver/silver blue and I'm sure some other colored vehicles easily blend into the surroundings and disappear, particularly if everybody else has their lights on and you are using the lights to identify other vehicles.

Probably a mistake by me looking for the lights, but easy to do.
 
We have a silver bus. Now this thing is 45 feet long and people still don't see it. We have the same brand and configuration in a dark blue and people don't see it either.

People even miss the Mitsubishi red buses.

My conclusion is people just don't look. when I drive the bus, I have some huge blind spots and can loose a small box truck in the one in the left mirrors.

Bottom line people just don't look!

I do think that on an overcast day you may be less likely to see a silver of light blue car.

Mel
 
Maybe on our cars it doesn't matter since people steer towards where they are looking.....Get my drift?

Mel
 
My dark gray F-250 Superduty is so invisible that right after I got it, a woman almost pulled into the side of me. We were both stopped side-by-side at a light! She decided she wanted to get into the right lane and didn't notice the truck that was almost twice as high as her little import.
 
Funny how the research points a different direction.....says silver is less involved but a more popular color....but not much research on the subject either. Just have good ins........
 
I know at one time I had an F150 that was a beast...a girl learning to drive in her parent's van had run into the side of the bed. The insurance company gave me a check and I said screw the dent and paid tuition with it. NO ONE cut me off in that beast, guess they knew I didn't mind running them over?

When I got rid of the F150 I was still a student so I got a Ford Escort. I noticed immediately that people were much less likely to notice you and much more likely to cut you off in the little car verse the truck.

The F150 was dark gray. The Escort was white.

I think sometimes people would see me but not cut me off when I was in the truck but would give it a try when I was in the little car. Certain they didn't want to get nailed by the truck...I already had a dent in the side so what was one more.
 
I get cut off all the time in my RV/Motorhome. Its a 12,000 lb behemoth, and as such I leave a "safe" distance between vehicles, ie, the standard DMV "safe" distance, as opposed to the hair thin distance normally seen in traffice. You wouldn't believe how many people swoop in front of me then slam on the brakes, not realizing they are sometimes feet away from getting eaten by steel.
 
If you let the RV "wonder" a bit in the lane, traffic will give you tons of room..........they notice the light blue and white 34' beast then.
 
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