Red cars don’t actually get in more accidents than other colors. This is one of the most persistent myths in driving culture, but when researchers have tested it with real crash data, red cars show no statistically significant increase in collision risk compared to white cars or most other colors. The belief likely persists because of assumptions about red being an “aggressive” color and the related myth that red cars cost more to insure (they don’t).
What the Crash Data Actually Shows
Several research teams around the world have tried to find a link between car color and accident risk, and the results for red are surprisingly boring. A University of Dayton study using statistical regression models found no evidence that any vehicle color was safer or riskier than white, which served as the baseline. The conclusion was blunt: there was no statistically significant relationship between vehicle color and crash risk.
A 2010 study from Monash University’s Accident Research Centre in Australia, one of the most widely cited papers on this topic, similarly found that no specific vehicle color was significantly safer than white. Some earlier, smaller studies did find patterns with certain colors, but the more rigorous analyses consistently fail to confirm that red is dangerous.
Where color does seem to matter is at the extremes of visibility. Some studies have found that very dark cars like black, brown, and dark green have a higher likelihood of being involved in serious crashes, likely because they’re harder to see in low-light conditions. Light-colored vehicles, particularly white and yellow, tend to show a small safety advantage in visibility-related crashes. Red falls somewhere in the middle. It’s not a dark color, but it’s also not as high-contrast as white or bright yellow.
Why the Myth Won’t Die
The “red cars are dangerous” idea draws from a few intuitive but flawed assumptions. Red is culturally associated with speed, aggression, and risk-taking. Sports cars are often red. People assume that someone who picks a red car drives faster or more recklessly, and that this personality type leads to more crashes. There’s a certain logic to it, but crash statistics don’t support the conclusion. The color of paint on the outside of your car doesn’t change how you drive, and the data reflects that.
There’s also a cognitive bias at work. Red is a vivid, attention-grabbing color, so when you see a red car in an accident, it’s more memorable than seeing a white or gray one. Over time, these memorable sightings reinforce the belief that red cars crash more often, even though you’re just noticing them more.
Car Color and Insurance Premiums
One of the most common follow-up questions is whether red cars cost more to insure. They don’t. According to the Insurance Information Institute, the color of your car does not affect the price of auto insurance. Insurers don’t even ask what color your vehicle is. Allstate confirms this directly: your vehicle plays a role in the price of a policy, but it’s about the type of car you drive and how you drive it, not the car’s color.
What does affect your premium is the make, model, and year of the vehicle, your driving record, your age, and where you live. A red Toyota Camry and a white Toyota Camry with identical specs will cost the same to insure, all else being equal. If a red car happens to cost more to insure in a specific case, it’s because the model itself is more expensive to repair or is statistically stolen more often, not because of the paint.
Which Colors Are Genuinely Harder to See
If you’re choosing a car color with safety in mind, the research points toward visibility as the real factor. White, yellow, and lime-green vehicles consistently perform well in studies measuring how easily other drivers can spot them. One study on fire trucks found that lime-yellow and white combinations significantly lowered the probability of visibility-related crashes compared to red and white combinations. This is why many emergency vehicles have shifted toward fluorescent yellow-green in recent decades.
Black cars tend to perform the worst in visibility research, particularly at dawn, dusk, and nighttime. Silver, gray, and dark blue also blend into road surfaces and overcast skies more easily than lighter colors. The differences are modest, though. Road conditions, lighting, driver attention, and vehicle speed matter far more than color in determining crash outcomes.
Red sits in an interesting spot. It’s highly visible in daylight against most backgrounds, which is why it was traditionally chosen for fire trucks and stop signs. But it loses contrast quickly in dim lighting and can blend into taillights, brake lights, and red signage in urban environments. It’s neither the safest nor the most dangerous color on the road. It’s just the one with the biggest reputation.