Fed: Silver cars safer, Kiwi researchers say

AAP General News (Australia)
12-20-2003
Fed: Silver cars safer, Kiwi researchers say

EDS: Embargoed 0001 Saturday December 20



SYDNEY, Dec 20 AAP - Want to stay safer on the roads this Christmas? Travel in a silver car.

That was the conclusion of a team of New Zealand researchers, who found in a two-year
study that people are less likely to suffer serious injuries in road accidents if they
drive a silver vehicle.

Even when the figures were adjusted to take into account the driver's age, sex, alcohol
consumption, seat-belt use, vehicle age and road condition, the study concluded there
was a significant reduction in risk of injury in silver cars.

Those in silver cars were half as likely to be involved in a crash resulting in serious
injury than those who travelled in white cars.

With five times the silver vehicle risk of serious injury, brown car passengers fared
the worst in the survey, published in the British Medical Journal today.

Black cars were almost as bad as brown, and green cars fared little better.

People travelling in grey, yellow, blue and red vehicles were about as likely as white
car passengers to be badly injured in a car accident.

"Increasing the proportion of silver cars could be an effective passive strategy to
reduce the burden of injury from car crashes," the researchers concluded.

AAP kbw/cjh/de

KEYWORD: SILVER (EMBARGOED)

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