I suppose billboards as a whole are distracting (any item intended to take your eyes and potentially thoughts away from driving would be considered a distraction). I think there are probably two important questions: (1) Are they more distracting than a normal billboard and, maybe more importantly, (2) Are they TOO distracting (i.e., do they increase the risk of an accident too much)?

Depending on how they are used, these billboards are probably slightly more distracting. If the digital nature of these is being used to change the image or move an image, there is a tendency to look more at the billboard than you normally would. This is, of course, what the advertiser and billboard owner want, but it is a bigger distraction when driving. Even the billboards that I have seen that do not change, are usually brighter and at least slightly more distracting (especially at night). I would suspect that as more of these appear one would adjust to that factor and it would be less distracting.

The more important question is are they TOO distracting. According to a Minnesota Transportation Department study (referenced in this WaPo article: http://bit.ly/PAokI), billboards that change no more than once every six seconds are not a significant distraction for drivers. I would say that while there is certainly SOME impact that these have, it probably pales in comparison to talking on a cell phone, texting, reading emails, watching movies, shaving, eating, etc. – all of which people regularly do while in a car. We should probably go after those items first before we spend too much effort on billboards.
Source(s):
Washington Post & Minnesota Department of Transportation (same article): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR200702210...


Permalink | Report