Visibility can be a contributing factor in car accidents in many ways, whether you’re on the road at night or in poor weather like fog. One visibility factor you may have wondered about is car color. Is there a connection between the other driver’s car color & crash risk in Birmingham, AL? Questions like this one matter when it comes to liability after a crash.
At Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers, we can help if you’ve been in a car accident. Our top-rated attorneys have over 90 years of combined legal experience helping crash victims, having recovered hundreds of millions of dollars.
Contact our law office today at (205)-973-6417 for a free consultation.
How Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After A Car Accident In Birmingham, AL
Our Birmingham car accident attorneys can provide the following legal services:
- Analyzing your accident and walking you through your best options
- Collecting records like medical information and police reports to build a case
- Preparing an insurance claim and negotiating to settle it quickly and fairly
- Taking the other driver to court if a settlement can’t be reached
Insurers in Birmingham, Alabama, often use excuses to avoid paying claims, including blaming the car color. Reach out to Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation with our Birmingham personal injury attorneys.
Visibility And Car Accidents
Birmingham is well known for its rainy and foggy weather. These conditions can naturally decrease a driver’s view of roads and traffic.
Under some circumstances, some car colors may be more difficult to see than others. For example, white or gray cars may be more difficult to see in dense fog. Similarly, a navy blue car might blend into the darkness on an unlit street.
Does Car Color Increase Crash Risk In Alabama?
Although car color may play a role in specific circumstances, scientific research has established that no color is riskier in all circumstances. In other words, researchers have examined whether cars of some colors were involved in crashes more often than others. These studies tried to isolate color from other factors such as driver age or alcohol use.
The results were conflicting. One study in New Zealand found that silver cars were the safest, while a study in Australia concluded that silver cars were the riskiest.
However, one study conducted by researchers at the University of Dayton used a slightly different method. Instead of focusing on the color of all vehicles with collision damage, this study focused on the cars driven by crash victims and ignored those of at-fault drivers. The goal was to determine whether at-fault drivers were more likely to hit cars of certain colors.
The scientists concluded that all car colors have the same overall crash risk. Thus, you are equally likely to be hit while driving a white car or a black car. However, this only applies to the overall crash risk. Adverse conditions might increase the risk associated with specific colors.
Liability For Birmingham Traffic Crashes In Poor Visibility Conditions
In the narrow circumstances in which the environmental conditions might obscure vehicles of certain colors, at-fault drivers may try to reduce their liability by shifting blame to the victim’s car color.
Specifically, negligence occurs when a driver fails to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances. The driver may argue that they were reasonably careful, but the victim’s car’s color prevented them from seeing it clearly enough to avoid the collision.
While this argument might seem valid on its surface, it will usually fail. This is because negligence is determined based on the circumstances. If the road is dark or the weather is foggy or rainy, drivers are expected to exercise additional care by slowing down or pulling over until the conditions improve.
For example, suppose a driver rear-ended your vehicle in a rainstorm. In response to your insurance claim or lawsuit, the driver argues that your gray vehicle was impossible to see. Your lawyer will counter by arguing that the other driver was negligent because they failed to slow down to leave more following space when they encountered poor conditions.
Contact Our Birmingham Car Accident Lawyers For A Free Consultation
Birmingham car accidents are almost always caused by risk-taking or negligent drivers. If you were hit by a negligent driver, you deserve compensation for the losses you suffered.
At Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers, we understand the stress that such accidents can cause. We can handle the legalities while you focus on moving forward. Contact our Birmingham car accident attorneys today to schedule a free consultation.