Toronto police opt for grey cruisers
Stealth not factor, spokesman says
Why are Toronto police cars going grey?
They’ve recently — quietly — been rolling out the new replacements for the familiar white Crown Victorias with the snazzy blue and red stripes, which were introduced in 1986.
For a while before that, most police and emergency services used yellow vehicles. Ontario Provincial Police cars remain black and white.
There’s been some burbling that the new stealthy grey tone isn’t “fair” — whatever that means. OK, I know what that means. Some of us prefer to see the officer before the officer sees us, as if that might be possible in an era where police can snap pictures of you from more than a kilometre away.
As it maintains a fleet of about 500 vehicles, the Fleet Management Unit of the Toronto Police Service is integrating the new Ford Taurus to replace the outgoing Crown Vics.
According to Const. Clint Stibbe, when Ford stopped production of the Crown Victorias in 2013, police forces throughout Canada and the U.S. were left without a viable option and began seeking its replacement. It was determined that the Taurus (with a police package called Interceptor) was the best value, so expect to see more as the Crown Vics age out. Most will sport the 3.5-litre Cyclone engine, putting out 288 horsepower.
As for colour, the yellow was replaced because of lead content in the paint. Stibbe says the darker grey hides a lot of marks and dirt and, when it comes to replacing them, the colour has a higher resale value. The new cars sport signage on both sides and front and back, with highly reflective white decals.
There are no increased costs involved in the switch to the newer models, as new acquisitions are being phased in under normal fleet replacement conditions and timelines. These cars are also different from the small number of Toronto’s “stealth cars” which are also dark grey but have reflective grey markings instead of white, which blend in without direct light.
Many sources struggling to find the “safest” car colour point to a New Zealand study that suggested silver cars are safest.
It’s been picked apart since then because it failed to factor in differences in climate and topography.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety points to more concrete evidence that daytime running lights have more impact on collision statistics than car colour does. Sometimes we confuse “more conspicuous” with “safer.”
Without being able to control for backgrounds, climate and time of day, safety is more about visibility provided by the lights than from the car colour.