Anecdotal stories often suggest that vehicles of certain colors are more prone to accidents than others. However, the link between car color and crash risk is unclear.
Unfortunately, if you were in a car accident, the insurance company may attempt to avoid liability by shifting the blame from their policyholder’s actions to the color of the victim’s car. The dedicated legal team at Rob King & Associates, Trial Lawyers, has 40 years of combined experience handling car accident claims. We have recovered millions of dollars on behalf of our clients.
Contact our Indianapolis car accident attorneys today at (317) 916-0000 for a free consultation.
How Rob King & Associates Can Help After A Car Accident In Indianapolis, IN
An Indianapolis car accident lawyer at Rob King & Associates can help you by:
- Reviewing the cause of your injuries and assessing all possible legal claims
- Preparing an insurance claim by gathering evidence of the other driver’s liability
- Negotiating with the at-fault party’s insurer to settle your case
- Taking the negligent driver to court if their insurer denies your claim
Car accidents in Indianapolis, Indiana, almost always result from preventable behaviors rather than the color of the vehicles involved. Contact us to arrange a free consultation with an Indianapolis personal injury attorney.
Visibility And Traffic Accidents
Vehicle color and visibility concerns tend to come up most when road conditions make it harder for drivers to spot other cars in time.
How Weather And Lighting Can Affect Visibility
Drivers encounter many environmental conditions in Indianapolis that may obscure their vision. Fog, snow, and unlit roads can make it difficult to see the other vehicles around you. Logically, some vehicle colors may be less visible in certain environmental conditions. For example, a dark blue car might disappear at night, or a gray car might emerge unexpectedly in the fog.
Do Certain Car Colors Increase Crash Risk In All Conditions?
Under some conditions, a vehicle’s color might play a role in its driver’s overall crash risk. However, this isn’t what people usually mean when they say that certain car colors increase crash risk. Instead, they theorize that some colors are always more dangerous and, therefore, your chance of being in an accident is higher regardless of the lighting or weather conditions.
This theory has been studied extensively, sometimes with mixed results. In an early 2000s study, researchers in New Zealand found that drivers of silver cars are much less likely to be involved in a crash than drivers of cars with other colors, for instance. However, an Australian study concluded that silver was among the most dangerous car colors.
Why The University Of Dayton’s Study Reached A Different Conclusion
According to a later study conducted at the University of Dayton, both of these previous studies were flawed because they factored the color of all vehicles into their analyses, including cars in single-vehicle accidents and those of the at-fault driver in multi-vehicle collisions. In doing so, these studies missed an important consideration.
Specifically, car color only becomes relevant if the at-fault driver blames the accident on their inability to see the other vehicle. This reassigns the cause of the crash from the driver’s negligence to the victim’s color choice.
As a result, the University of Dayton study focused solely on the color of the vehicle found not at fault. In other words, the researchers only included the victim’s car color in their analysis. In doing so, they found no statistical significance to the vehicle’s color. They concluded that all colors have the same risk across all crash scenarios.
Liability For Crashes Occurring In Poor Visibility Conditions
The University of Dayton researchers’ conclusion generally aligns with the law. While car color may play a role in certain circumstances, at-fault drivers can’t simply point to the victim’s car color as the reason for all crashes.
Moreover, even in those narrow situations where visibility was poor, a driver can’t shift the blame to the color of another vehicle.
While the color of the other car may have made it slightly more difficult for the driver to see, liability for the crash will depend on whether the driver was reasonable in continuing to operate their vehicle under the conditions. If their actions were deemed unreasonable, they would be liable for the crash victims’ injuries.
Contact Our Indianapolis Car Accident Lawyers For A Free Consultation
Indianapolis car accidents can cause serious injuries and major financial losses. Contact Rob King & Associates to discuss your accident and learn how we can help you take legal action against the parties responsible for causing it. Our Indianapolis car accident attorneys can answer your questions and provide you with sound legal guidance.
