Safety, Environmental, and Aesthetic Impacts

Scenic America receives many inquiries regarding the safety and aesthetic impacts of digital billboards. We encourage you to explore the following links. Please contact us if you need further assistance.

Safety Studies

• Examination of Driver Visual and Cognitive Responses to Billboard Elicited Passive Distraction Using Eye-Fixation Related Potential
  Distractions external to a vehicle contribute to visual attention diversion that may cause traffic accidents. As a low-cost and efficient advertising solution, billboards are widely installed on side of the road, especially the motorway. However, the effect of billboards on driver distraction, eye gaze, and cognition has not been fully investigated. This study utilises a customised driving simulator and synchronised electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking system to investigate the cognitive processes relating to the processing of driver visual information. (2024)

• Driver Distraction From the EEG Perspective: A Review
  A large proportion of car accidents are caused by distracted drivers. Thus, comprehensive analysis and understanding on driver distraction is essential for traffic safety improvement. (2024)

• Impact of roadside advertisements near traffic signs on driving safety
  A common distraction that affects drivers on the road is billboards. It can substantially impact how well drivers manage their speed, maintain their lanes, focus their attention, and react to stressful situations. When the billboards are placed next to vital traffic signs, they negatively affect drivers, impairing their ability to recognize these signs visually and, more significantly, altering their driving behavior. In this case, the impact of billboards on drivers is mainly influenced by two critical factors: billboard size and relative position to the traffic signs. In this study, a driving simulator was used to study the influence of these two factors on drivers. For this purpose, the eye movement, EEG and driving behavior data of drivers under different combinations of these two factors were collected. (2023)
• The impact of road advertising signs on driver behaviour and implications for road safety: A critical systematic review
  Driver inattention and distraction are recognised as two of the most critical factors for road safety worldwide. While roadside advertising is often identified as a potential source of distraction, it has received less attention compared to other types of distractions such as texting or calling while driving. Therefore, this study focused on the impact of roadside advertising signs on driver behaviour and road safety. (2019)
• Compendium of Recent Research Studies on Distraction from Commercial Electronic Variable Message Signs
  A comprehensive review of many studies on the impacts of digital signs upon driver safety by noted human factors expert Jerry Wachtel of the Veridian Group. (Updated October 2020).
• Traffic Safety Messages Cause Crashes to Increase
  A 2022 Texas study showed that the number of crashes increases when motorists are confronted with displays indicating the number of road fatalities in the area.
• A Peer-­‐Reviewed Critique of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Report Titled: “Driver Visual Behavior in the Presence of Commercial Electronic Variable Message Signs (CEVMS)”
  A 2015 critique of the FHWA’s 2013 study on the impact of billboards on driver safety conducted by Jerry Wachtel, a leading expert on highway traffic safety. This peer-reviewed report identifies the issues with the 2013 study, which is used heavily by the outdoor advertising industry to dispell safety concerns over billboards.
• Effects of Electronic Billboards on Driver Distraction
  A 2012 study involving digital billboards and driver safety conducted by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute. The study found that drivers looked at digital billboards significantly longer than they did at other signs on the same stretch of road, with the digital signs often taking a driver’s eyes off the road for more than two seconds.
• Critical Review of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America’s Digital Billboard Safety Studies
  July 2007 saw the release of two industry-sponsored studies that concluded that digital billboards are no more likely to cause traffic accidents than conventional billboards. The billboard industry has since cited the studies numerous times as evidence that the proliferation of digital billboards poses no safety threat to the motoring public. This objective, expert analysis of the studies was prepared for the Maryland State Highway Administration by Jerry Wachtel, a highly regarded traffic safety expert. His report is extremely critical of the conclusions and methodology of both studies and effectively debunks them.
• The Impact of Driver Inattention on Near-Crash/Crash Risk: An Analysis Using the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study Data
  April 2006, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
  A major study of driver inattention, primarily involving distractions inside the car, but finding that any distraction of over two seconds is a potential cause of crashes and near-crashes.
• Research Review of Potential Safety Effects of Electronic Billboards on Driver Attention and Distraction
  September 2001, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
• Milwaukee County Stadium Variable Message Sign Study: Impacts of an Advertising Variable Message Sign on Freeway Traffic
  December 1994, Wisconsin Department of Transportation
  Study of the dangers posed by an electronic sign in Milwaukee, which concluded that “it is obvious that the variable message sign has had an effect on traffic, most notably in the increase of sideswipe crash rate.”
• Traffic Safety Evaluation of Video Advertising Signs
  Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1937, 2005
  A study of electronic signs in Toronto, which finds that “On the basis of the eye-fixation study and the pubic survey data, it is apparent that video advertising can distract drivers inappropriately and lead to individual crashes,” but calls for additional research due to other conflicting data.
• NHTSA Distracted Driving Fact Sheet
  A 2018 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration summarizing the dangers created by distracted driving.

Environmental Impacts

• Assessment and Strategies to Reduce Light Pollution Using Geographic Information Systems
  A general overview of the problem of light pollution and how to measure it. (2016) 
• Light pollution disrupts sleep in free-living animals 
  Nature, 2015
• Timing of light exposure affects mood and brain circuits
  Nature, 2017 
• Illuminating the Issues
  A 2010 report on digital signs, energy consumption, and brightness 

Economic Impacts

• Beyond Aesthetics
  A major research report on the negative impacts of billboards upon property values in Philadelphia. (2011)
• Kansas City digital billboard exchange program 
  A February 2020 news article that describes the digital billboard exchange program used in Kansas City.

Social Impacts

• The Streets are Watching: How Billboards Are Spying On You
  A 2022 report takes aim at the privacy concerns raised by digital billboards, examining how advertisers use the insights they capture from digital ads to tailor the messages served up to people on digital billboards.