Study Determines Digital Billboards Don

The Foundation for Outdoor Advertising Research and Education (FOARE), Washington, DC, combined the results of two separate studies that examine traffic-accident causation and driver performance in relation to digital billboards and concluded digital billboards can’t be blamed for auto accidents.

The crash-causation and statistical study, conducted by Tantala Assoc. (Philadelphia), analyzed traffic and accident data near seven digital billboards on interstates in Cuyahoga County, OH, 18 months before and after the billboards were converted from conventional to digital formats. Albert M. Tantala, P.E., said, “Accidents are no more likely to occur near digital billboards than on highway sections without them.”

The human-factors study, conducted by the Center for Automotive Safety Research at Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute (VTTI), Blacksburg, VA, concluded driving performance measured in the presence of digital billboards are comparable with those associated with everyday driving. Performance measures included eyeglance patterns, speed maintenance and lanekeeping. The VTTI study was conducted in Cleveland and followed the model of a VTTI 2004 study, which showed no measurable effects of conventional billboards on eyeglance patterns, speed maintenance or lanekeeping. The current study asked 36 drivers to navigate an instrumented vehicle on a 50-mile loop along interstates and surface streets in Cleveland. Participants encountered digital billboards, conventional billboards, on-premise signs and baseline sites with no signs. Eyeglance results showed no difference in the overall glance patterns, but drivers looked longer in the digital billboard’s direction. However, the mean glance length towards the digital billboards was less than one second, the acceptable glance time away from the roadway. The nighttime sessions’ findings mimicked the daytime results.

FOARE, which is administered by the Outdoor Advertising Assn. of America, supports research and provides an educational forum to assess issues related to the outdoor-advertising industry. The foundation also provides academic scholarships.