The next time you hail a taxi, take note of its colour,
for it might mean a safer ride.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore
(NUS) found that taxis painted yellow, a colour that stands out,
were involved in significantly fewer traffic accidents than taxis
painted blue.
Their results were based on analysing three years'
worth of detailed taxi, driver and accident data from a large fleet
of over 4,000 yellow taxis and 12,500 blue taxis locally.
Yellow taxis were found to have about 6.1 fewer
accidents per 1,000 taxis every month than their blue
counterparts.
It meant an individual was about 9 per cent less likely
to be in an accident in one of those.
Professor Ho
Teck Hua, NUS deputy president of research and technology and lead
investigator of the study, told The Straits Times that the study
accounted for a majority - 60 per cent - of taxis in Singapore.
It was
conducted in collaboration with Associate Professor Chong Juin Kuan
from the NUS Business School and Assistant Professor Xia Xiaoyu
from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School.
Their findings
were published in the scientific journal Proceedings Of The
National Academy Of Sciences on Monday.
On the
results, Prof Ho said that yellow taxis were more noticeable than
blue taxis in both daylight and under street lighting.
"The
difference in the accident rate between yellow and blue was highest
in street lighting because the difference in visibility of the two
colours was most pronounced against the dark background of
night."
The study also
highlighted the potential economic savings of repainting all the
blue taxis in the study yellow. It would cause 917 fewer accidents
per year, generating over two million dollars worth of savings.
Studies into
the link between vehicle colour and accident rates were previously
conducted in 2007 by Monash University in Australia, which found
that cars painted in lower-visibility colours such as black, blue
and grey, tended to be involved in more accidents.
Singapore's
biggest taxi operator, with a fleet of blue cabs, ComfortDelGro
told ST that the results of the study were "very interesting" and
that the company would take a closer look at them.
Correction note: In our earlier story, we said
the results were based on 1½ years' worth of data. It
should be three years' worth of data. We are sorry for the
error.
