Sumner Weisman wrote:
>
> 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.
I would suspect that all dark colors have decreased visibility at night,
and certainly white or yellow would have higher visibility than other
dark colors. As for Dean Paige's suggestion that silver gray would be
worst due to lack of contrast in bad weather, I would say that's
certainly possible, too, but it's also likely that a silver gray would
reflect more light, and therefore be more visible to adjacent traffic.
Nevertheless, as you say bright green stands out to the human eye.
Anyone worried about their car's visibility at night might consider
reflective strips. These are in increasing use by public transit and
public service vehicles; further, most of us have encountered kids on
bicycles without lights and dark clothing, at night, and seen only the
movement of spoke reflectors. A thin strip of reflective tape on the
wheels and bumpers might be just the thing to keep those dark green,
black and red (and damson <g>) LBCs from getting t-boned at night. And,
the stuff can be usually be removed with a heat gun for shows and such,
with minor cleanup.
Cheers.
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