eli5 “You’re more likely to be in an accident in a red car”

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I heard this statement and it confused me. The explanation was more red cars have accidents than other cars. But surely that doesn’t translate to “I personally am more likely to have an accident if I drive a red car than a blue car today”? Assuming there’s nothing inherently about red cars that makes them more likely to crash. I’m struggling with the maths theory behind it.

Edit to clarify my question: does the statistic that “red cars have more accidents” translate to the statement that “I, personally, all other things being equal, am more likely to have an accident if I drive a red car than a blue one”?

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90 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Red cars( back in the day )were typically sports cars and people with sports cars usually were younger who drove faster and were more likely to be reckless and have accidents.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Red cars( back in the day )were typically sports cars and people with sports cars usually were younger who drove faster and were more likely to be reckless and have accidents.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Red is an energy or firey passion so one may drive make wreck less if they are foolish. ❤️‍🔥❤️

Anonymous 0 Comments

Red is an energy or firey passion so one may drive make wreck less if they are foolish. ❤️‍🔥❤️

Anonymous 0 Comments

Let’s change a bit interpretation from the rest of the comments.

Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. (Straight from wiki)

So there is *evidence* that there are more accidents involving red cars.

Then there is the most important bit of words that you can ever expect to know: **correlation doesn’t mean causation**

Just because data tells us that red has greatest probability, it doesnt tell us *why*

Maybe there are more red cars , maybe red cars are easyer to hit, maybe only crazy mofos buy red cars, maybe red paint causes sleepyness… Currently we are missing a piece of the puzzle!

Since I don’t know the underlying reason that makes red cars more prone to accidents *i can’t tell* wether being in a red car makes it inherently more risky.

I am pretty confident that red paint does not have unexpected properties in terms of visibility, or sleepyness, and I hope that you are not a crazy driver, so **it is reasonable to expect** that being in a red car does not make you *inherently* more prone to accidents than any other colored car.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Red is an energy or firey passion so one may drive make wreck less if they are foolish. ❤️‍🔥❤️

Anonymous 0 Comments

Let’s change a bit interpretation from the rest of the comments.

Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. (Straight from wiki)

So there is *evidence* that there are more accidents involving red cars.

Then there is the most important bit of words that you can ever expect to know: **correlation doesn’t mean causation**

Just because data tells us that red has greatest probability, it doesnt tell us *why*

Maybe there are more red cars , maybe red cars are easyer to hit, maybe only crazy mofos buy red cars, maybe red paint causes sleepyness… Currently we are missing a piece of the puzzle!

Since I don’t know the underlying reason that makes red cars more prone to accidents *i can’t tell* wether being in a red car makes it inherently more risky.

I am pretty confident that red paint does not have unexpected properties in terms of visibility, or sleepyness, and I hope that you are not a crazy driver, so **it is reasonable to expect** that being in a red car does not make you *inherently* more prone to accidents than any other colored car.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Let’s change a bit interpretation from the rest of the comments.

Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. (Straight from wiki)

So there is *evidence* that there are more accidents involving red cars.

Then there is the most important bit of words that you can ever expect to know: **correlation doesn’t mean causation**

Just because data tells us that red has greatest probability, it doesnt tell us *why*

Maybe there are more red cars , maybe red cars are easyer to hit, maybe only crazy mofos buy red cars, maybe red paint causes sleepyness… Currently we are missing a piece of the puzzle!

Since I don’t know the underlying reason that makes red cars more prone to accidents *i can’t tell* wether being in a red car makes it inherently more risky.

I am pretty confident that red paint does not have unexpected properties in terms of visibility, or sleepyness, and I hope that you are not a crazy driver, so **it is reasonable to expect** that being in a red car does not make you *inherently* more prone to accidents than any other colored car.

Anonymous 0 Comments

>Edit to clarify my question: does the statistic that “red cars have more accidents” translate to the statement that “I, personally, all other things being equal, am more likely to have an accident if I drive a red car than a blue one”?

No. It could easily be the case that people who drive faster tend to buy red cars, or that car models that are more accident-prone tend to be red. It’s worth noting that most major car insurers (in the United States at least) do not charge different premiums based on car color, because any significant difference in risk by color is explained by other, more reliable metrics, like age of the driver and the model of the car.

If someone who knows what they’re talking about knows of a major insurer who rates on car color and can point to a filing on SERFF to show that, I’d be curious to know. I haven’t seen it. Google shows some claims about it from some rinky-dink law partnerships, and there are some amateur studies that claim to find a difference, but the insurers have all the good data on this and if they aren’t rating on car color, then it’s not a significant causal factor in driving safety.

Anonymous 0 Comments

>Edit to clarify my question: does the statistic that “red cars have more accidents” translate to the statement that “I, personally, all other things being equal, am more likely to have an accident if I drive a red car than a blue one”?

No. It could easily be the case that people who drive faster tend to buy red cars, or that car models that are more accident-prone tend to be red. It’s worth noting that most major car insurers (in the United States at least) do not charge different premiums based on car color, because any significant difference in risk by color is explained by other, more reliable metrics, like age of the driver and the model of the car.

If someone who knows what they’re talking about knows of a major insurer who rates on car color and can point to a filing on SERFF to show that, I’d be curious to know. I haven’t seen it. Google shows some claims about it from some rinky-dink law partnerships, and there are some amateur studies that claim to find a difference, but the insurers have all the good data on this and if they aren’t rating on car color, then it’s not a significant causal factor in driving safety.