Fire engines should be painted yellow to make them more visible, according to research.
Motor insurance provider yesinsureranc.co.uk said its research and a number of other studies showed that vehicles painted with darker colours, such as red, are often less visible than those which are yellow.
In the insurer's research, conducted in September 2006 among 4,000 motorists, red was considered to be the most dangerous colour to paint a vehicle.
Paul Purdy, of yesinsurance.co.uk, said: “Over a third of respondents in our research picked red as the riskiest colour to paint a car, and almost as many chose black.”
He added that from an insurance point of view there is no distinctions on colour, but for emergency vehicles the research indicates that lime yellow is the most visible colour.”
The company added that the preference for lime yellow colouring was also supported by research published in 1995 by Solomon and King, which analysed accident data of different coloured fire vehicles over a four year period in Dallas, US.
Purdy said: “Red fire engines do tend to look more powerful and macho than those painted yellow. But where safety is concerned we really need to consider which is better for visibility."
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