Mr SAWFORD (9:47 AM) —You have to laugh at some of the very bizarre behaviour that has been exhibited during this week in parliament, the load of nonsense that has been written by the Canberra press gallery and the out-of-kilter stories on radio and television. I gather—and I know that you will appreciate this too, Mr Deputy Speaker Causley—that the cause of these happenings is the trinity of parliamentary precinct momentary madness affliction that every now and again infects this place. The trinity, of course, is caused by the convergence of the end of a parliamentary winter sitting here in Canberra, when no-one wants to be here; the nearness of a federal election, which everyone wants brought on; and a full moon, which cannot be avoided. How else could you explain the resplendent sight of the members for Mackellar and Barker on the wrong side of a division yesterday—or was it romance?

Taking that into account, my officer manager Pauline Mannix and I found ourselves doing and reading more everyday and mundane things this week to keep our sanity and to protect ourselves from the growing epidemic. I found myself reading an article on road safety. For as long as I can remember I have always favoured silver-coloured vehicles but I have never quite known why. According to the Australian government's Transport Safety Bureau booklet, Road Safety in Australia, a publication commemorating World Health Day 2004, I have a greater chance of surviving a serious road accident while driving my silver car than one of another colour. The publication states the variations in fatal crash involvement rates with vehicle colour. If you drive a yellow vehicle you have a significantly elevated crash rate; for a white vehicle, you have a slightly elevated rate; and for a black vehicle, a slightly lower rate, and a significantly lower rate for grey and silver.

What I found interesting was that black and red vehicles scored reasonably well in these comparison colour studies, while the colours bronze and brown scored extremely badly. Poor Queenslanders. One thinks that these darker cars, in particular black, are much harder to see regardless of the road and the weather conditions. Significantly, low crash involvement rates were observed for silver coloured vehicles in both analyses of multivehicle and pedestrian crashes, and single vehicle crashes. The authors of the study speculated that their surprising results might be due to a combination of light colour and high reflectivity. There is nothing conclusive here, of course, but it does seem that driving a silver coloured car might be better for one's longevity.

Obviously, commonsense and defensive driving come into play but it seems that with a silver coloured car you just might lengthen the odds. Perhaps the all white Commonwealth car fleet is not such a smart or a good thing. Perhaps the yellow cabs in Melbourne are not a good thing either—nor the largely white cabs anywhere else. It may just be worth thinking about. It kept me from the affliction of parliamentary precinct madness, and that is a good thing. Seven hours to go today; then two more parliamentary weeks. It is a challenge!