Traffic Safety Evaluation of Video Advertising Signs

Road authorities are under increasing pressure from advertisers to allow video advertising in the right-of-way but are understandably concerned about whether video signs constitute a driving hazard. At the City of Toronto's request, a comprehensive assessment of traffic safety impacts related to such signs was carried out in a series of studies involving three downtown intersections and an urban expressway site. An on-road eye fixation study was carried out to determine if drivers look at video advertising signs. Conflict studies were conducted to determine if there were more conflicts on intersection approaches with visible video signs than on those without such signs. A before-and-after sign installation study of headways and speeds on the urban expressway was carried out. Crashes were compared before and after sign installation at the expressway and three intersection sites. Finally, a public survey was conducted to determine if video advertising was perceived to affect traffic safety. On the basis of the eye fixation study and the public survey data, it is apparent that video advertising can distract drivers inappropriately and lead to individual crashes. However, the evidence from other studies was not consistent and suggests that for the particular signs studied, overall impacts on traffic safety are likely to be small. Further studies, especially prospective ones with larger crash data sets, are required to be certain about the findings. A comparison between this study and an earlier one suggests that there are large differences in driver distraction depending on the placement and the environment in which the sign is seen. Further studies are required to determine factors that minimize driver distraction.