The colour of your car can determine your road accident risk

SYDNEY - A new survey has found that silver vehicles have a 10 percent higher crash risk than white on Australian roads.

A leading researcher at the Monash University Accident Research Centre, Dr Stuart Newstead, has warned that the surge in popularity of silver vehicles presents an increased crash risk on Australian roads.

It’s one question safety agencies get asked all the time too, which is why they commissioned a 2007 report into the relationship between vehicle colour and crash risk.

Using data from accidents in Western Australia and Victoria, the study found that black cars are most likely to be involved in an accident, with a 12 percent higher crash risk than white vehicles.

“When it comes to car colour choice, people often put style above substance and safety,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Newstead as saying.

According to Professor Stephen Dain, from the University of NSW’s School of Optometry and Vision Science, a vehicle’s visibility will depend largely on its background.

“A white car is good in an urban street, which is a relatively dark background, but is useless in the snow,” Dain said.

“The reverse may be said of black and darker greys. A red car would be much less conspicuous on a red dirt road in the bush.

“So any colour will be more conspicuous at times and less conspicuous at others depending on the backdrop,” he added.

Given that our colour vision is relatively poor in peripheral vision, he explains, detecting a car in the periphery is much more dependent on the non-colour contrast with the background.

He also suggested that if you really want to be seen, turn on the headlights rather than fret about the colour of your car - an issue that becomes a moot point in accidents that occur at night. (ANI)

|Court allows underage-but-married Pak 7th grader to attend school following rustication |World[Peshawar {Peshawar, Dec 3 (ANI): The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has granted permission to a grade seven student for taking classes in the school that had rusticated him for getting married despite being underage.

A PHC division bench, which took up the case for hearing, also put the principal and board of governors of the Peshawar Model School (Boys-III) on notice in the case, the Daily Times reported.

The petitioner’s lawyer contended that the school administration had expelled the student- Ghairat Khan- only because he had got married, adding that it was unlawful to put the student’s future at stake.

Khan, in his petition, stated that his father had died some months back and his ill mother was finding it difficult to carry out the household work alone, which was the reason why he married one of his uncle’s daughters.

He had entered into wedlock as per the permission and desire of his mother and other relatives, Khan said, adding that after his marriage, the principal of his school expelled him after handing him a certificate.

His lawyer argued before the court that there was no law in the country that allowed the respondent to expel the student for contracting marriage, and called for declaring the “impugned” actions unlawful. He further said that the student was a Muslim and under the Islamic law, he could contract marriage on his own if he had attained puberty.

Further, it was stated in the petition that there were a number of students of the same school who were married and carrying on with their schooling without any hindrance.

Earlier this year, the management of the Peshawar Model School had agreed to readmit Khan, provided the court of law asked it to do so. (ANI)