New study: Digital
billboards are safe
Finds no increase in accidents in Rochester, Minn.
By Abigail Azote
Apr 17, 2009
Digital billboards are the hot thing in out-of-home advertising, attracting huge capital investments, along with advertiser interest.
But just how quickly they populate America's roadsides is still unclear, and a big factor is the resistance they face from citizens and government bodies across the country.
A major objection, beyond the eyesore argument against billboards generally, is that digital billboards are unsafe. The changing of images as ads rotate represents a huge distraction to motorists, creating the potential for accidents, or so the argument goes.
But now a new industry study finds no relation between traffic accidents and digital billboards.
Commissioned by the Foundation of Outdoor Advertising Research, which is affiliated with the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the study looked at five years worth of traffic data for an area in Rochester, Minn., where five digital billboards stand.
Each is a freestanding, single-pole, double-faced structure with a digital face measuring 10 feet 6 inches high by 36 feet wide. The units are located along local streets.
“Rochester was a unique opportunity for study about the statistical associations between digital billboards and traffic safety using robust data sets and analyzing multiple locations for periods in excess of four years,” says Michael W. Tantala of Tantala Associates, LLC, the Philadelphia-based consulting firm that conducted the study.
“Simply stated,” he says, “the data shows no increase of accident rates near these billboards.”
In fact, he found that the rate of accidents actually declined by 4 percent in the area within six tenths of a mile of the billboards.
These findings support those of another study in Cleveland in 2007 that looked at accident data for digital boards along interstate highways. It too found no statistically significant relationship between the presence of digital billboards and traffic accidents.
But these studies alone aren’t likely to win the argument for digital billboards.
Foes of the new signage say their findings are inconclusive, and indeed a recent study from Federal Highway Administration suggests that the only thing conclusive about digital billboard safety studies is that more exhaustive studies need to be conducted.
Meanwhile, legislation restricting the use of digital billboards continues to be passed.
Some 39 states now have laws regulating digital billboards, typically restricting the brightness of the signage and the frequency at which images may be changed, and banning animation. A handful of cities have banned digital boards outright, among them Houston, Des Moines, St. Paul, Minn.
Just last month, the Los Angeles Planning Commission passed a series of proposals designed to overhaul the city’s billboard laws, including a ban on new digital billboards in most of the city. The City Council is expected to vote on the proposed ordinances by May, when the city’s temporary moratorium on new billboards, enacted last December, is set to expire.
There are approximately 1,400 digital billboards across the country today, and that number is expected to grow by 100 or more each year, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America.
What makes digital billboards so attractive to advertisers is their bright colors and high-resolution images that can be seen from miles away, especially at night, and the ability to change creative from a central location.
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