If you want a safe taxi ride, yellow could be the way to go

It’s all about visibility, a new analysis says

You might want to hail only yellow taxis: The brightly colored cabs are involved in fewer accidents than blue ones because yellow is more visible, a new study reports.

An analysis of millions of detailed taxi, driver and accident information over three years from Singapore’s largest taxi company found that yellow taxis were involved in 9% fewer accidents than blue ones, the study shows.

Researchers ruled out differences in driving speed, number of stops and distance covered as factors, leaving color as the primary reason.

“Color was the only differentiator, because the company used the same car models and enforced the same maintenance policy for all its taxis,” the study says.

Because yellow taxis are more noticeable than blue ones — especially when in front of another vehicle — other drivers can better avoid hitting them, directly re- ducing the accident rate, the study finds. It’s the first published research that identified vehicle color as a main contributor to accident rates.

“This finding can play a significant role when choosing colors for public transportation and may save lives as well as millions of dollars,” the authors wrote in the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

If the company changed the color of its entire fleet of 12,525 blue taxis to yellow, 76 fewer accidents would occur every month, or 917 fewer accidents a year, the report says.

Yellow has been a popular color for taxis since 1907, when the Chicago Yellow Cab Company chose the color based on a survey that said yellow was the most noticeable color. Back then, when all other cars were black, it was easier for passengers to spot a yellow cab.

“It could turn out that a simple commercial decision made by the Chicago Yellow Cab Company more than a century ago has an inadvertent, positively impactful economic and potentially lifesaving outcome that we can adopt and expand on, starting today,” the study says.

2012 PHOTO BY STAN HONDA, AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Yellow cabs are not just easier to see if you’re hailing one — they’re easier for other drivers to see when you’re in one.