[kadanaJ]

I don't believe in superstition, but I do believe in colour psychology and visibility.

My white cars have always been lucky. Not because of any actual luck, but I believe simply because they're extremely noticeable to other road users.

[tarmacnaut]

I have driven close to 20000 kms in highway. In my experience, darker colours especially black cars can catch other drivers off guard in intersections and entry/exits during dusk/dawn/night time due to their poor visibility in low light conditions.

And in a country like India where road rules are just namesake, it is always better to be seen and heard by others. So brighter colours are always safer in the view of avoiding accidents due to their highly visible nature.

[vijaysrk]

Without going into the metaphysical/superstitious aspects of your questions, I will say the following:

1. Defensive driving: Driving (safely) in India has as much to do with being a good driver yourself, as with compensating for the bad driving of most people around you, particularly two-wheelers, three-wheelers, public/commercial vehicles, jaywalking pedestrians, stray cattle, the list goes on...

Without being facetious, I can honestly even say that stray cattle are actually better behaved on the road than some of the others mentioned above...

Also on highways when possible, I always use the middle lane rather than the left-most or right-most lanes. The find that the middle lane helps avoid any surprises from either the left shoulder or from the right at intersections/over the median etc., and gives you a choice of swerving left or right when something bad happens.

2. Visibility: Having visibility of the road around you, and being visible yourself to others is something that literally makes a life and death difference. As a rule while driving on highways, I ALWAYS have my headlamps on, even in broad daylight. Even if not for visibility's sake, it at least ensures people take notice of you as the odd one on the road and stay clear of your way.

As for your own visibility, do ensure that your wing mirrors are open, clean and something that's second nature for you to use at all times and not just while switching lanes or turning.

Also, do consider installing 3M CR70 or VKOOL (I forget the model) film on the front windshield. In addition to heat rejection, it also helps with reducing glare from oncoming headlights. Having a clean, scratch-less windshield is also critical.

3. Compensating for poor road design: I know of very few city/State/National highways in India where there's something as basic as a dedicated U-turn lane. In most cases, the fast lane (Extreme right lane) also serves as the lane that you're supposed to slow down on in order to take a right or U-turn. If this doesn't qualify as criminal neglect, I don't know what does.

As a result, I am forced to start slowing down much in advance of when I actually need to for the turn, just to ensure that the guy behind me notices my turn signal and me slowing down, and has sufficient time to react, either by slowing down or by switching lanes.

I also scan the opposite lane traffic behind me to see if there's some idiot on the wrong side there trying to merge into my lane when I need to make that turn, and am always ready to abort the turn attempt and keep going straight if I have to.

Horn: This is going to be a controversial one, but I fervently believe that for someone who prioritizes self-preservation and safety over any other cause, the horn is one of the most important safety devices you need on Indian roads. I have installed the loudest street-legal horns I could find on my cars, and I use it LIBERALLY for getting the attention of the trucker I'm trying to overtake, the errant helmetless two-wheeler beside/in front of me who has his phone cradled between his head and his shoulder, the autowallah who's straddling two lanes in front, etc. I have no qualms about assaulting someone's aural sensibilities if that helps prevent any of the other tragic eventualities on our roads that we're all too familiar with.

Now finally coming to car color: I had a black XUV 500 for over ten years, and thankfully have had very few scrapes in over 95,000 km of driving all over India. No doubt that a dark colored car is less visible in the night than a lighter colored one, but I feel that by itself shouldn't make a make a material difference if we do everything else right.

Incidentally I too have a Hexa now (Tungsten Silver)!

[Ton Ami]

I don't believe that colours attract positive or negative energies. However, lighter colour vehicles may be easier to spot by others and might work to prevent accidents.

Is anyone aware whether any study has been done to associate colours with accidents? If yes, then I think yellow would be the colour with least probability of an accident.

[Altrozed]

Originally Posted by Lone_Wolf

I had not thought I would be ever writing this on Team BHP, but here I am - forced by the sequence of events.


I love my Cars. I am a person with Spiritual/Religious bend of mind but never have I installed a God’s Idol in any of my Cars– I think it’s time to do so now!

Do Dark Cars (or any other objects) really attract Negativity? I still feel it should not! I see so many Well Maintained Shiny Black Cars on the road. But we are conditioned by our Experiences in life. And mine has been terrible since I brought Home a Black Hexa!

Spend some money and change the paint color with any other non black/dark color. Problem Solved. Hexa Retained.

Superstitious but TML launched a dark Series Edition and nowadays most of the cars I see are #Dark Series including one I known.

As part of accessories, they were offering an idol too
So, they knew it before

[SideView]

Originally Posted by Altrozed

Spend some money and change the paint color with any other non black/dark color. Problem Solved. Hexa Retained.

Repainting isn’t sufficient you would also need to update the RC to show the new colour. Just to be complete. (To avoid hassles with insurance and whatnot if we are going in this direction)


I also feel like OP is finding a justification to replace (or itch to replace) the vehicle and colour seems to be the justification

Edit: Mine is silver Terrano, also faced some accidents where I am at no fault. So leave the thoughts of colour been the issue from your mind.

[charanreddy]

I am a firm believer of “ Don’t turn off the light to see how dark it can get “..

My family believes that black brings bad luck, so all my vehicles have been non black ( white, orange grey dual tone etc).. I also avoid clothes and other stuff which are black.. but this needs to be put in perspective.. I.e. if my company gives me a black laptop for work , I am not likely to deny it

On my orange Nexon, I have encountered potentially dangerous circumstances.

1. In my residential property, mosquito repellent fog was being sprayed and in zero visibility and at less than 10KMPH, a kid almost came under my car.. I escaped by a second ..

2. In my town, a lamb came under my car with zero fault from my side. I was in traffic and a lamb darted under my rear wheels just before I started to roll off.. the poor thing lost it’s life and blood was every where.. I paid 2500 to the lamb’s owner who no doubt took it and made a meal out of it.. immediately got my car pressure washed and went to a temple and did Pooja thanking my luck that it wasn’t a young kid..

All this and more in a car that is my lucky colour.


In your case : Grey is not black.. your incidents are to be expected in a city . An alternate way to look at it was that every incident especially involving two wheelers could have led to a more grim scenario involving loss of life or limb.. it looks like you were particularly lucky to avoid the really bad circumstances.. go to a temple, get some Pooja done and be happy ..

[PrasannaDhana]

This might sound superstitious but unlucky car thought, once if it arises, it won't go.

I bought a brand new 2021 celerio in Dec 2021. It was being used by dad and driver for the last 4 months. 3 minor accidents in 4 months, for no fault of the person driving the celerio.

Day before yesterday, a two wheeler rear ended the car while dad was waiting at a toll plaza queue. Bumper got torn like a fabric.

He called me and told me how pathetic the build was. Heck, I told him before the purchase, but he didn't want to stay away from our loyal Maruti brand.

Well, now we have decided to sell it off and get a safer car. A big depreciation hit, but not more worthy than peace of mind. On the bright side, I get to buy another new car immediately, but within a limited budget though.

[tracerspiff]

6 incidents over a span of 6 years? Sounds about normal when you live in Bangalore. The colour of the car has nothing to do with luck or lack thereof.

[steadfast]

Originally Posted by Lone_Wolf

!

Just one ques- How many kms has your car driven till now ?

[mtripathi13]

Originally Posted by tracerspiff

6 incidents over a span of 6 years? Sounds about normal when you live in Bangalore. The colour of the car has nothing to do with luck or lack thereof.

While the colour of the car may have nothing to do with luck, but was'nt there a study which concluded that the lighter colour the car was, the lower was its probability in being in an highway accident?. I might me wrong but I do seem to recall something on this line.

[Safedriver2023]

Maybe you can try more reflector tapes or radiant decals for some time and see if the blind offenders still want to mess with your Hexa.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Lone_Wolf

Do Dark Cars (or any other objects) really attract Negativity? I still feel it should not!

I love black. My first bike ('95 CD100), my first car ('05 Baleno), my 2nd bike ('14 CBR250) and even my cycle ('17 Montra Downtown) are all black,
with me still using the last 3 regularly without any issues. OTOH the accidents I have had were with our brown M800 & green A-Star.

Accidents happen. More so on our roads where everyone is riding/driving to their own rules. Don't take it too harshly on yourself or the car.

[aim120]

Practically every study/ research shows that black cars are involved in more crashes then any other color worldwide.

Further more in black cars AC compressor as to work harder because of the 8c to 10c cabin temperature difference between a white and black car.

All those people buying a Nexon EV black edition, they pay may more upfront for the color and they also get less range when the AC is On.

[callvvijay]

On a lighter but related note..

One of my relatives is a humorous person and always sees the bright side in all the things. When he was talking to another person (let's say Mr. X), he had offered coffee to which the Mr. X had said a no and said that he stopped drinking coffee. The reason is that it was only when had taken a break to get a coffee did something bad had happened and hence he had stopped coffee altogether.

My relative narrated the incident to us and said - "one should not link 2 incidents and make unnecessary knots. What if Mr. X had gone to the loo to relieve himself and the bad thing had happened?".

So, chill! Accidents do happen; and more often, without our own fault. So, take it lightly. As you have mentioned that you are a spritual-oriented person, do your prayers and see the bright side!

Cheers!