Light Versus Dark

A woman who was hit by a police car was awarded a million dollars or so the other day.

"Chris Boyle is a very professional police officer who was unfortunate to have a pedestrian clad in black pants and black coat during a dark winter night, run across the highway while not in a crosswalk, directly into the path of his police vehicle," Beaverton's attorney, Gerald Warren, wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to The Oregonian.

Never mind the stupidity or the tragedy. What interests me here is the choice of black clothing at night.

When we lived in Phoenix, everything was white or light colors. The outsides of the houses, the gravel that covered the yard, our clothes and especially the insides of our house. It was all white. We eventually did paint some of the rooms, but they got pastel colors.

When we moved to Oregon we went looking at houses and every one we looked at had a dark interior. Walls painted dark colors, or paneled with dark wood. To our eyes it looked gloomy.

Almost twenty years later and we have definitely moved away from bright white and light colored pastels. The bedrooms have been painted dark, possibly vibrant, colors, and the rooms on the main floor have gotten a color that is a couple of shades darker than pastel. The basement is still white, but that's just because SWMBO hasn't made it a priority.

I was out walking one night and I realized I was wearing all dark clothing. Not a good idea, but it just happened. I would have to make an effort to go against my natural inclinations in order to obtain light colored clothing.

I think I kind of understand what's going on here, but I'm not sure. Something along the lines that since our eyes are not constantly subjected to bright light, we are more able to detect variations in color and contrast. Light colors just don't have enough variety to keep our interest. Under bright light situations you want minimal variation in order to avoid having to constant adjust your vision. That is, once you have adjusted to a certain level of brightness, you don't want to have to keep changing it. Makes your eyes tired.

In any case, if you live in Northern half of the country, you may want to think about what you are wearing when you got out at night. Especially if you are going to be crossing a highway.