Interesting. That reminds me -- I took a course in optics a long time ago.
If you look at a graph of the human eye, showing sensitivity vs. color, it
peaks at bright green. In other words, the eye is most sensitive to that
color and can see it best in low light. It was so long ago that I forgot
all about it.
Sumner Weisman
----------
> From: Michael D. Porter <mdporter@rt66.com>
> To: Paige, Dean <DPaige@ci.santa-rosa.ca.us>
> Cc: 'Sumner Weisman' <sweisman@gis.net>; Triumphs
<triumphs@autox.team.net>
> Subject: Re: British Racing Green
> Date: Saturday, December 12, 1998 3:07 AM
>
> Paige, Dean wrote:
> >
> > I read somewhere recently that the color that is hardest to see in bad
> > conditions is silver/grey. Seems to me that the article also said this
color
> > car was involved in more U.S. accidents than any other. Naturally my
XJ-6 is
> > silver gray.
> >
> > Dean
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Sumner Weisman [mailto:sweisman@gis.net]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 10, 1998 5:22 PM
> > To: Triumphs
> > Subject: British Racing Green
> >
> > I do think that BRG looks great when it's shiny and clean at a show.
But
> > it must be one of the most dangerous colors for visibility. I think it
> > would just blend into the scenery -- which might be fine when you're
trying
> > to get away from a cop, but very bad when it's rainy or foggy on a
narrow
> > road. A case of unintentional camouflage. Do statistics show that BRG
> > cars are involved in more accidents than brightly colored ones like
white
> > or yellow? I would not be surprised.
>
> Studies in the early `70s suggested that any shape painted in red was
> the most difficult to see at night. It has something to do with the
> transmission of certain wavelengths at low light levels. The same
> studies suggested that lime green was most visible at night (the reason
> for so many fire engines painted in that color these days). Red might
> have been very symbolic of fire, hence fire engines being red, but it
> wasn't very visible at night.
>
> Cheers.
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