‘Giant TV on a stick’

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July 12, 2010

Ads on highway signs pose safety risks

Anonymous The Tribune-Democrat The Tribune-Democrat Mon Jul 12, 2010, 01:00 AM EDT

— To its credit, PennDOT is looking for ways to bring much-needed nontaxpayer revenue to its budget.

We expect that every department within our state government is doing the same, while also cutting both its costs and its spending.

However, we can’t buy into PennDOT’s proposal to sell advertising on those electronic signs that dot our highways to warn motorists of potentially dangerous conditions ahead – even if, as PennDOT says, the idea could generate $150 million annually.

We’ve hailed the placement of these electronic signs, which warn drivers of accidents, traffic jams, construction, or poor road or weather conditions.

As motorists, we’ve been trained to look for important messages when these signs are in operation.

To clutter these boards with advertising lessens the impact. Important highway information could be “lost” among flashing advertising messages.

There are other reasons we object also.

“There is a growing and sound body of scientific evidence that has confirmed the intuitive notion that a digital billboard, essentially a giant TV on a stick ... poses an unnecessary safety risk to drivers,” said Mary Tracy, president of the nonprofit Scenic America, which aims to preserve roadside scenery.

She added that electronic message boards should be identified as a distraction such as cell phones.

We agree, and so does Fairley Mahlum, a spokeswoman for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

“They can be distracting,” she said.

“Most of the current concern centers around some of the new technology that is being used for signs, especially the ones that are big that use very bright LED lights that often change.

“Something like that could be very distracting.”

PennDOT isn’t oblivious to safety concerns, either.

We didn’t believe it would be.

To ensure that the signs are safe, a pilot program using 50 electronic signs would be established before the project became statewide, PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said.

Another objection we have to the advertising proposal is that it would increase the visual clutter through more “billboards.”

Pennsylvania has joined California and Florida in asking the federal government to allow the sale of advertising on electronic highway signs to generate money primarily to fix roads and bridges.

We agree that our highways and spans need to be fixed, and that PennDOT critically needs the money.

But obtaining the funds shouldn’t come at a price that compromises safety.

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