+- Austinsevenfriends (https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum)
+-- Forum: Austin Seven Friends Forum (https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Forum chat... (https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=14)
+--- Thread: Visibility and colour (/showthread.php?tid=9354)
Visibility and colour - Steve Bryant - 10-05-2024
These days vehicles are getting larger and faster with all kinds of distractions for the drivers inside their cars. Our cars are small and not as fast, so tend not to be so easily seen.
While sitting at a traffic light I was struck by how certain colours stood out from all the other cars etc., making them more easily spotted.
This lead me to wonder if certain colours on A7s make them more visible? What colours would you think would work best at this? White. Yellow, bright Red etc?
We need all the help we can get to preserve our cars and our selves.
Just a random thought,
Stephen
RE: Visibility and colour - Chris KC - 10-05-2024
These days you have to consider the "driver" may be sitting there watching TV and letting a computer drive the car - that calls for either incredible confidence in computer programmers (I've met a few...) or a hefty dose of stupidity (or possibly both).
The long and the short of it is
(a) don't join "A" roads unless you're prepared to put your foot down and keep a steady eye on your rear view mirror
and
(b) yes, do anything you can to promote getting noticed, particularly from behind. While I don't rule out vehicle colour, there are few shades in the original 1920's-30's palette which really lend themselves to this, and not many of us are willing to spoil the car just to get noticed. A fair compromise is a reflective spare wheel cover (for saloons, at least). I have some extra reflectors stuck on my back wings which at night show brighter than my taillights do. Some folk use flashing lights (although legality in the UK is open to challenge, I've not heard of anyone being collared for it).
RE: Visibility and colour - Hugh Barnes - 10-05-2024
I have used a high intensity red bike lamp that can flash in an asynchronous pattern. A subjective assessment, of course, but I think I can see changed behaviour of overtaking vehicles who pull out earlier..
RE: Visibility and colour - andrew34ruby - 10-05-2024
As the feared event occurred to me a few weeks ago and my seven is now under serious repair, I have also been wondering how to be more visible.
Colour might be a factor, but I think we all see colours differently so it might be difficult to have a bright colour for all. I am thinking of driving with lights on all the time, maybe just sidelights, or maybe headlights. Most cars on the road now seem to drive with headlights all the time even in sunshine. The days of driving around town at night with just sidelights seem to have gone. In a modern car I get flashed at for driving with just sidelights in town.
As for the very bright random bike flashers, they drive me nuts and feel they could cause accidents. When on my bike I find I have to look away when such flashing is within sight.
Thinking about it, my recent collision was probably nothing to do with me being in an old car.
RE: Visibility and colour - Robert Leigh - 10-05-2024
The use of LED lamps in suitable enclosures, possibly a bit larger than the originals, can be useful. In ordinary use with a working dynamo you don't have to worry about the battery going flat, so having them illuminated by day is not a problem. If they can be mounted above road spray level so much the better. Using double contact bulb holders in place of what may have been single originally allows incorporation of flashing indicators showing amber for direction indication and bright white as sidelamps. If the car is painted fluorescent yellow the LEDs may be less neccessary, but it is not something I would advocate!
RE: Visibility and colour - Howard Wright - 10-05-2024
Apparently yellow cars are the most visible. All those ambulances can’t be wrong can they?
Howard
RE: Visibility and colour - Reckless Rat - 10-05-2024
SAAB promoted bright coloured cars in the 1970s and 80s but I don't know if there's any evidence to show whether it was successful. Probably not seeing as the colours didn't prevail. Most drivers don't generally look much further ahead than the end of their bonnets so I doubt whether a bright coloured, but small A7 would be more easily seen, although anything out of the ordinary would tend to attract the attention.
RE: Visibility and colour - Peter Naulls - 10-05-2024
I did read some years ago that white cars statistically attract the fewest insurance claims, by what margin I'm not sure.
I bought some magnetic reflective sheet for night-time use on the back of the Ruby. Unfortunately I couldn't find red only so had to settle for red & yellow stripes. I don't think the car has been out at night since I bought it!
RE: Visibility and colour - jpsmit - 12-05-2024
(10-05-2024, 09:56 PM)Peter Naulls Wrote: I did read some years ago that white cars statistically attract the fewest insurance claims, by what margin I'm not sure.
Context. I knew a fellow years ago who was hit and had his DKW totalled. Apparantly a white DKW looked exactly like a snowdrift and the driver didn't see him.
(Saskatchewan in February)
RE: Visibility and colour - Steve kay - 12-05-2024
A historian writes, there is no evidence that any GWK cars were written off in snowdrifts. A mere 99 years and 51 weeks ago, however, Jackson's GWK was damaged in an accident whilst making its way to Llandrindod Wells for the Small Car Trials. This coming Friday, there will be a stalwart attempt to reclaim Bwlch y Groes for Longbridge. Unfortunately Gunnar Poppe did not have the benefit of an Andy Bird four speed gearbox.