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An examination of billboard impacts on crashes on a suburban highway: Comparing three periods—Billboards present, removed, and restored
Traffic Injury Prevention
Abstract
Objective: Advertisement billboards on roadsides distract drivers from driving tasks and may increase the risk of crashes. Yet, empirical evidence on the direct impact of advertisement signs on crashes is scarce. The Ayalon Highway in Israel is a suburban highway crossing the greater Tel Aviv–Yafo metropolitan area. Following debates in parliament, advertising billboards were removed from the road in 2008 and restored mid-2009. This study examined the impact of advertising billboards on crashes while considering 2 interventions: Removing (or covering) existing billboards and their subsequent restoration.
Method: Three periods of billboard presence were defined: Period 0, when billboards were visible; period 1, when billboards were removed; and period 2, when billboards became visible again. Crash changes associated with each intervention were estimated by comparing period 1 vs. period 0 and period 2 vs. period 1, respectively, and by comparing vs. control groups. Negative-binomial regression models were fitted to the monthly crash counts, while controlling for time period, site group (treatment or control), and seasonal effect.
Results: Removing the billboards was associated with a decrease of 30 to 40% in injury crashes and restoring the billboards was associated with an increase of 40 to 50% in injury crashes. The crash changes were consistent across various analyses. The estimated decrease in crash numbers during the removal period was up to 100 damage-only crashes and 50 injury crashes per year, and the estimated increase in crashes after billboard restoration was up to 120 damage-only crashes and 30 injury crashes a year.
Conclusion: The study provided empirical evidence on the positive safety impact of removing billboard advertising from the roadsides of a suburban highway and of the negative safety impact of billboard restoration. The stronger impact values found in the study, compared to previous research, may be related to the high frequency of conspicuous billboards along the road and to complicated traffic conditions on the road—a heavily traveled route with a high density of interchanges—that might strengthen the negative impact of driver distraction due to advertising billboards.
... However, there are many other sources of distraction that are mentioned in police crash records. Roadside advertising/billboards are one such source of distraction (Gitelman et al., 2019). Given the existence of traffic state phenomena that can lead to traffic suddenly stopping and thousands of lane changes per kilometre per hour of urban motorway (Zurlinden et al., 2021), safe mobility and crash avoidance requires motorists to pay full attention at all times. ...
... Given the existence of traffic state phenomena that can lead to traffic suddenly stopping and thousands of lane changes per kilometre per hour of urban motorway (Zurlinden et al., 2021), safe mobility and crash avoidance requires motorists to pay full attention at all times. However, the increase in crash numbers due to the distraction of billboards (Gitelman et al., 2019), means that millions of dollars in annual government revenue per highway section from such signage is required to cover the additional community social costs of the increased crash risk. Removing billboards from high volume urban motorways is critical. ...
In previous decades significant gains were made in reducing the number of road traffic related fatalities in Victoria and Australia. However, in absolute terms this reduction started plateauing despite substantial investment in road safety countermeasures. This trend is not well aligned with the goal to achieve zero fatalities by 2050. Through practical traffic management experience, a study tour of nine countries and a literature review, we have gained valuable insights into the changing dynamics of roads. We have identified opportunities to improve road safety by adapting to larger/heavier vehicles, denser traffic, changing travel patterns and evolving demographics. These opportunities include: vehicle-centred crash avoidance in addition to crash consequence mitigation strategies; reduced traffic complexity; reduced cognitive workload; and targeted dynamic information of inclement weather and traffic conditions. Improved road surface friction, braking, tyres and vehicle stability can reduce crashes and their impacts. This article aims at stimulating broader discussions among experts for the development of next-generation road safety strategies.
... While there is extensive evidence that bill-boards impact on drivers' behavior, there is no solid evidence that bill-boards in general also pose a risk for accidents (Decker et al., 2015;Wallace, 2003;Dukic et al., 2013). Gitelman et al. (2019) showed that at a specific highway in Israel, the removal and subsequent restoration of bill-boards pointed towards an increased risk of accidents when bill-boards were present. However, this study concerned a specific highway and specific bill-boards, and did not account for changing meteorological circumstances. ...
Inattention in traffic is a risk factor for the occurrence of accidents. Elements surrounding traffic could potentially be a safety risk for road users. This study investigates the relation between election posters and traffic accidents using a seasonal autoregressive-moving-average model with exogeneous variables (seasonal ARMAX) correcting for variations in meteorological conditions and general traffic volume indicated through public holidays. Danish traffic accident micro data are used to construct a time series for daily number of accidents in city zones adjusted for probable known accident causes, namely drunk driving, narcotics, drivers deemed unfit to drive, and accidents related to low visibility. Model parameters are determined from Maximum Likelihood estimation on the period from 1 January 1997 to 15 December 2009 with an indicator for general election periods. The presence of general election posters is associated with an increased risk of traffic accidents (p = 0.003), when correcting for meteorological variables and public school holidays. While a causal relation between traffic accidents and the presence of election posters cannot be concluded from the analysis, we find distraction from election posters to be the most likely explanation for the associated increase in traffic accidents. On average, the model indicates that 1.18 additional daily accidents occur for general elections in Denmark. In total, that amounts to 127 additional accidents for the investigated period of time. This study shows that such sudden changes in traffic surroundings are significantly related to increased safety risks which could lead to a better discussion of relevant traffic legislation.
... Based on a study by (19) investigates the impact of sign advertising on accidents, while two interventions were considered taking away (or covering) and subsequent reconstruction of existing billboards. The results show based on this study when the billboard is removing the percentage of injury crashes decreased by 30 to 40% while when the billboards are restoring the injury crashes increase by 40 to 50%. ...
Introduction: A visually cluttered environment is described as one that has visual qualities that have the potential to affect driving efficiency. It is the theory that performance is determined by the interaction of the individual, the task, and the surrounding environment. – Statistics of an accident reported in Malaysia has been increasing rapidly. General observation found that the main cause of car accidents reported in due to the distraction of the driver during. This study aims to examine the visualization factor distraction that causes an accident during the driving task. Methods: The driver distraction is measured based on the analysis of attention level of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. The EEG signal waves that are produced from the brain will be recorded while the driver is driving on the road with controlled parameters. The data are analyzed in order to retrieve the level of attention level of the driver. Result : Findings from this study show that the percentage of attention level reduced with the most significant factors in visualization. Conclusion: Based from the results of this study, the activity in the brains reacts differently to the different visualization that the drivers are exposed to during driving.
... In the technology space there is insufficient emphasis on leveraging relatively simple, proven technologies such as speed limiters, Smart ITS comprising real-time weather and congestion warnings, high-performing brakes and tyres including tyre pressure monitoring systems / run flats, or more complex but also proven technologies such as eCall. In the behavioural space, the mental workload for motorists could in some instances be reduced by simple measures such as the avoidance of billboards along high-volume motorways with complex traffic conditions, where it is now evident that the social costs of crashes caused by distraction far outweigh the corresponding revenue (Gitelman at al., 2019). ...
These proceedings describe research, educational and policing program implementation and policy and management strategies related to all aspects of road safety and especially related to the conference theme of Towards Zero: A Fresh Approach. The 2021 conference covers a comprehensive range of topics including speed, infrastructure and road design, education, licensing, vehicle design, impairment due to alcohol, drugs and mobile phones. The conference also presents innovative symposium sessions including interdisciplinary approaches combining safety, the law and design and showcasing successful programs involving at-risk youth, older drivers and safety approaches for non-occupants, specifically when we walk and ride a bicycle. Around 600 delegates from 28 countries attended the on-line virtual conference, held in this format because of COVID 19 restrictions. Authors of accepted Extended Abstracts and Full Papers represented international and local institutions from all aspects of their respective communities including research centres, private companies, government agencies and community groups. The Extended Abstracts and links to Full Papers presented in these Proceedings provide an indication of the important work being done in Australia, New Zealand and internationally as part of the United Nations, One UN Vision for Road Safety to reduce the number of crashes roads by 50 percent by 2030.
... Eight sites or sections with relevant advertising devices and 6 control sites were selected, all of which were located on the Tel Aviv Ayalon highway. The authors found that after the removal or covering of advertising devices, there was a 30-40% decrease of traffic accidents with personal injury (for the total number of crashes it was an even greater decrease-up to 60%), while restoring their function was associated with a 30-45% increase of traffic accidents (in all categories-total number of crashes, crashes with material damage only and those with injuries to the participants) [22,23]. ...
The paper focuses on road safety assessment. The main objective was to assess the impact of different types and sizes of advertising devices as a potential distraction for drivers. Distraction of driver’s attention in real traffic was evaluated using the “Wiener Fahrprobe” structured observation method. As a method for reliable data collection, the eye tracking method was used to accurately define the time delay caused by the observation of the advertising device. As part of the assessment of the direct impact on drivers, test runs were carried out with 40 drivers on a pre-defined section of road on which different types of advertising devices were present. As an additional, supporting measurement, a vehicle simulator was also used. From the obtained knowledge it was possible to create a unique classification system that can be used to assess the severity of any installed advertising device in general. In the case of distraction, it was found that dynamic advertising devices attract the most attention than conventional static devices and appear to be a significant risk to road safety.
... Similarly, for digital billboards, Decker et al. (2015) reported no appreciable distraction effects as drivers were able to self-regulate their gaze behaviour when driving demands altered. In contrast, a large highway study in Israel found a significant 30-40% reduction in injury-related crashes associated with the removal of highway billboards compared to a 40-50% increase in the number of crashes after their reinstallation (Gitelman et al., 2019). ...
This paper proposes a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between roadside advertising signs, driver behaviour, and road safety outcomes. Roadside advertising signs are external distractions that may take a driver's attention away from safety-critical driving tasks, potentially increasing crash risk through driver distraction and inattention. Although studies report safety concerns, as a whole, the body of research in the field is inconclusive with inconsistent quality, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Definitive links between roadside advertising and road trauma are not yet evident, which has major consequences for road regulators' capacity to develop evidence-based policy to safely administer public roads. However, a lack of consistent evidence does not indicate an absence of risk but underscores its complexity. To address this problem, the Driver Behaviour and Roadside Advertising Conceptual Framework (DBRA framework) was developed to strategically investigate and conceptualise the phenomena of roadside advertising. A new term – “extended engagement” – has also been proposed to account for situations of prolonged attentional engagement with a roadside advertising sign. Further, it is posited that important variations in driving performance may be associated with a driver's extended engagement with a roadside advertising sign. Built on extant theories of driver behaviour and empirical research, the DBRA framework is designed to be a robust tool that encourages a common agenda for future roadside advertising research.
... This competition for attention in the real-world can also have many serious consequences. Although a highway billboard that managed to draw your attention would be considered a "success" by an advertiser, it also disrupts your sustained spatial attention to driving conditions and consequently increases the risk of an accident (Gitelman et al., 2019). Although drivers are usually able to maintain road safety when their attention is distracted for only a brief period of time, longer disruptions make them significantly more likely to become involved in a crash (Klauer et al., 2006). ...
Attention can be involuntarily biased toward reward-associated distractors (value-driven attentional capture, VDAC). Yet past work has primarily demonstrated this distraction phenomenon during a particular set of circumstances: transient attentional orienting to potentially relevant stimuli occurring in our visual environment. Consequently, it is not well-understood if reward-based attentional capture can occur under other circumstances, such as during sustained visuospatial attention. Using EEG, we investigated whether associating transient distractors with reward value would increase their distractibility and lead to greater decrements in concurrent sustained spatial attention directed elsewhere. Human participants learned to associate three differently colored, laterally presented squares with rewards of varying magnitude (zero, small, and large). These colored squares were then periodically reintroduced as distractors at the same lateral locations during a demanding sustained-attention rapid-serial-visual-presentation (RSVP) task at the midline. Behavioral and neural evidence indicated that participants had successfully learned and maintained the reward associations to the distractors. During the RSVP task, consistent with prior work, we found that the distractors generated dips in the instantaneous amplitude of the steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by the midline RSVP stimuli, indicating that the distractors were indeed transiently disrupting sustained spatial attention. Contrary to our hypotheses, however, the magnitude of this dip did not differ by the magnitude of the distractor’s reward associations. These results indicate that while sustained spatial attention can be impaired by the introduction of distractors at another location, the main distraction process is resistant to the distractors’ reward associations, thus providing evidence of an important boundary condition to value-driven attentional capture.
... According to the taxonomy proposed by Regan et al. (2011), distraction occurs when the driver's attention is focused on driving-irrelevant information, resulting in insufficient attention toward driving-related stimuli that are critical for safety. Besides, driver distraction might be caused by external information like billboards (e.g., Chattington et al., 2009;Bendak and Al-Saleh, 2010;Dukic et al., 2013;Belyusar et al., 2016;Gitelman et al., 2019) but also by in-vehicle devices (e.g., Strayer, 2015;Arexis et al., 2017;Noy et al., 2018). In the latter case, smartphones are considered as a game changing technology regarding driver distraction, due to their particularly strong prevalence in our societies, and daily activities (Srivastava, 2005;Strayer, 2015;Ward et al., 2017;Pew Research Center, 2018;CREDOC, 2019). ...
Smartphones are particularly likely to elicit driver distraction with obvious negative repercussions on road safety. Recent selective attention models lead to expect that smartphones might be very effective in capturing attention due to their social reward history. Hence, individual differences in terms of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) – i.e., of the apprehension of missing out on socially rewarding experiences – should play an important role in driver distraction. This factor has already been associated with self-reported estimations of greater attention paid to smartphones while driving, but the potential link between FoMO and smartphone-induced distraction has never been tested empirically. Therefore, we conducted a preliminary study to investigate whether FoMO would modulate attentional capture by reward distractors displayed on a smartphone. First, participants performed a classical visual search task in which neutral stimuli (colored circles) were associated with high or low social reward outcomes. Then, they had to detect a pedestrian or a roe deer in driving scenes with various levels of fog density. The social reward stimuli were displayed as distractors on the screen of a smartphone embedded in the pictures. The results showed a significant three-way interaction between FoMO, social reward distraction, and task difficulty. More precisely, under attention-demanding conditions (i.e., high-fog density), individual FoMO scores predicted attentional capture by social reward distractors, with longer reaction times (RTs) for high rather than low social reward distractors. These results highlight the importance to consider reward history and FoMO when investigating smartphone-based distraction. Limitations are discussed, notably regarding our sample characteristics (i.e., mainly young females) that might hamper the generalization of our findings to the overall population. Future research directions are provided.
... There are a range of distractors outside and within the driver's cabin that have been linked to increased crash risk when driving. For example, outside the drivers' cabin there is evidence that roadside advertising signs create distractions and increase crash risk (Oviedo-Trespalacios, Truelove, Watson, and Hinton, 2019;Gitelman, Doveh, & Zaidel, 2019). Within the cabin, drivers may engage in or be subjected to distractions such as listening to music, interacting with passengers, reaching for an object, ringing phones, daydreaming, etc. ...
Sexual activity while driving fits the definition of distracted driving because it involves the diversion of attention away from the driving task. However, this risky driving behaviour has received little attention compared to other distracted driving activities. To address the lack of research on sexual activity while driving, the internet was searched from April to June 2020 for media reports in which sexual activities occurred within the cabin of a moving vehicle, taking specific note of: gender, the presence of others, time of day, use of substances, the nature of the circumstances surrounding the incident, and whether crashes had occurred. A total of 106 unique and verified cases were identified from 2004 to 2020. The reports involved 76 male (71.7%) and 30 female drivers (28.3%), and there were 43 (40.5%) serious incidents that involved a crash and 23 fatalities (21.7%). In 17 (16.0%) incidents their vehicle hit another car, and a pedestrian or cyclist was hit in 3 (2.8%) incidents. The risk of a serious incident was higher during oral sex or intercourse than solitary activities (i.e. masturbation). A total of 63 (59.5%) mild incidents (without crashes or fatalities) were identified, in which reports included accounts by witnesses or police regarding sexual activity while driving. Given the potential seriousness of incidents, this topic deserves further research to better understand the prevalence and safety implications of sexual activity while driving.
The objective of this current study was to evaluate the impact of digital billboards (DBs) on selfreported
and observed driving behavior, given their established association with distracted
driving. This investigation focused on driver behavior in Iran using a dual-pronged approach.
Initially, self-reported driving behavior was analyzed using a Driving Behavior Questionnaire
(DBQ), which was completed online by 453 drivers. The factor analysis of the questionnaire data
emphasized the significant role of DBs in generating driving errors, lapses, unintentional violations,
and intentional violations. The DBQ questions exhibited a clear factor structure, demonstrating
high factor loadings and satisfactory internal stability. The findings indicated that
advertising signages notably influenced drivers’ behavior, particularly in instances of neglecting
the behavior of the leading vehicle’s driver (Lapse), disregarding pedestrian crossings (Error),
disregarding red lights (Intentional violation), and overtaking without considering traffic flow
behind (Unintentional violation). Subsequently, participants engaged in an Instrumented Vehicle
Study (IVS) to explore observed driver behavior when encountering DBs (899 samples). Four
factors were identified as significantly influencing the likelihood of driver distraction: the driver’s
crash history, time of day, driver’s age, and road type. A logistic regression analysis was conducted
using the IVS data, revealing that drivers with prior crash experience approached DBs with
8.8 times more caution than those without such a history. Moreover, young adults were 8.25
times more susceptible to distraction from DBs compared to their older counterparts. Notably, the
findings suggested that drivers were nearly four times more prone to distraction at night
compared to daytime. Additionally, drivers were twice as likely to be distracted at intersections
compared to other road types. The outcomes of this study can offer insights for policy interventions
regarding the content and placement of DBs, aiming to minimize their impact on road
safety while still enabling advertisers to target their intended audience.
Background
Road Traffic injuries (RTI) are among the top ten leading causes of death in the world resulting in 1.35 million deaths every year, about 93% of which occur in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Despite several global resolutions to reduce traffic injuries, they have continued to grow in many countries. Many high‐income countries have successfully reduced RTI by using a public health approach and implementing evidence‐based interventions. As many LMICs develop their highway infrastructure, adopting a similar scientific approach towards road safety is crucial. The evidence also needs to be evaluated to assess external validity because measures that have worked in high‐income countries may not translate equally well to other contexts. An evidence gap map for RTI is the first step towards understanding what evidence is available, from where, and the key gaps in knowledge.
Objectives
The objective of this evidence gap map (EGM) is to identify existing evidence from all effectiveness studies and systematic reviews related to road safety interventions. In addition, the EGM identifies gaps in evidence where new primary studies and systematic reviews could add value. This will help direct future research and discussions based on systematic evidence towards the approaches and interventions which are most effective in the road safety sector. This could enable the generation of evidence for informing policy at global, regional or national levels.
Search Methods
The EGM includes systematic reviews and impact evaluations assessing the effect of interventions for RTI reported in academic databases, organization websites, and grey literature sources. The studies were searched up to December 2019.
Selection Criteria
The interventions were divided into five broad categories: (a) human factors (e.g., enforcement or road user education), (b) road design, infrastructure and traffic control, (c) legal and institutional framework, (d) post‐crash pre‐hospital care, and (e) vehicle factors (except car design for occupant protection) and protective devices. Included studies reported two primary outcomes: fatal crashes and non‐fatal injury crashes; and four intermediate outcomes: change in use of seat belts, change in use of helmets, change in speed, and change in alcohol/drug use. Studies were excluded if they did not report injury or fatality as one of the outcomes.
Data Collection and Analysis
The EGM is presented in the form of a matrix with two primary dimensions: interventions (rows) and outcomes (columns). Additional dimensions are country income groups, region, quality level for systematic reviews, type of study design used (e.g., case‐control), type of road user studied (e.g., pedestrian, cyclists), age groups, and road type. The EGM is available online where the matrix of interventions and outcomes can be filtered by one or more dimensions. The webpage includes a bibliography of the selected studies and titles and abstracts available for preview. Quality appraisal for systematic reviews was conducted using a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews, AMSTAR 2.
Main Results
The EGM identified 1859 studies of which 322 were systematic reviews, 7 were protocol studies and 1530 were impact evaluations. Some studies included more than one intervention, outcome, study method, or study region. The studies were distributed among intervention categories as: human factors (n = 771), road design, infrastructure and traffic control (n = 661), legal and institutional framework (n = 424), post‐crash pre‐hospital care (n = 118) and vehicle factors and protective devices (n = 111). Fatal crashes as outcomes were reported in 1414 records and non‐fatal injury crashes in 1252 records. Among the four intermediate outcomes, speed was most commonly reported (n = 298) followed by alcohol (n = 206), use of seatbelts (n = 167), and use of helmets (n = 66). Ninety‐six percent of the studies were reported from high‐income countries (HIC), 4.5% from upper‐middle‐income countries, and only 1.4% from lower‐middle and low‐income countries. There were 25 systematic reviews of high quality, 4 of moderate quality, and 293 of low quality.
Authors' Conclusions
The EGM shows that the distribution of available road safety evidence is skewed across the world. A vast majority of the literature is from HICs. In contrast, only a small fraction of the literature reports on the many LMICs that are fast expanding their road infrastructure, experiencing rapid changes in traffic patterns, and witnessing growth in road injuries. This bias in literature explains why many interventions that are of high importance in the context of LMICs remain poorly studied. Besides, many interventions that have been tested only in HICs may not work equally effectively in LMICs. Another important finding was that a large majority of systematic reviews are of low quality. The scarcity of evidence on many important interventions and lack of good quality evidence‐synthesis have significant implications for future road safety research and practice in LMICs. The EGM presented here will help identify priority areas for researchers, while directing practitioners and policy makers towards proven interventions.
Saudi Arabian urban roads and highways have witnessed a large number of traffic crashes. Road lighting is one of the most important factors influencing drivers’ safety during the nighttime. Street-lighting design (e.g., spacing and height), visibility (e.g., lane marking and oncoming vehicles), and drivers’ satisfaction (e.g., glare effect on eyes and overall ambiance) are primary criteria affecting the performance of an urban street-lighting system (USLS). The present study presents a methodology for the performance appraisal of USLS in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire survey was developed to obtain drivers’ opinions on nine sub-criteria (three under each primary criterion). The responses were translated into a five-scale subjective rating system from very low to very high. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) effectively aggregated the statistically diverse (p-value < 0.001) responses obtained on the three primary criteria. The study found that electronic billboards’ positioning, oncoming vehicle lights, and poor lighting in the course of bad weather (mainly dust) are mainly affecting the performance of USLS in the view of road users. The performance levels ranged between “medium” and “high”, with no criteria or sub-criteria achieving a “very high” level, suggesting a need for upgrades, such as conversion to LED lights and smart lighting control systems. The proposed methodology benefits the transportation ministries to identify lacking components of USLSs in different regions of Saudi Arabia. The methodology provides the opportunity to include additional or site-specific factors for appraising the performance of USLS before (during planning and design) or after the implementation of improvement actions.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is an important and prominent component in many advertising campaigns. Yet the medium is underresearched, and scholarly research is highly fragmented. The purpose of this systematic review is to consolidate the extant OOH advertising literature, identify gaps within and among the disparate and multidisciplinary research streams, and offer a theoretically grounded agenda to stimulate interest in OOH advertising research. The review includes 454 articles spanning 104 years. Research results are divided between ad management and public policy topics, and 20 research questions are presented to move scholarly research forward.
The number of traffic accidents because of distracted driving is increasing rapidly worldwide. Hence, the main objective of the present study is to review the effects of different distracting factors on driving performance indicators. Distracting factors considered in this study are roadside advertisements (billboards), mobile use, in-built vehicle systems, and sleepiness; and driving performance indicators are lane deviation, reaction time, and speed variation. Studies from existing literature reveal that all the distracting factors distract drivers from forwarding roadways in many ways. The location and content displayed on the billboard and the use of mobile phones increase reaction time. However, the former decreases the driver’s ability to control the vehicle, and the latter increases the speed variation and reduces lane-keeping capacity. Lateral vehicle control and reaction time are compromised when drivers engage in searching for songs or videos on music players. When sleepiness occurs, drivers exhibit a higher standard deviation of speed and a decreased headway distance. Nevertheless, most of the studies in this area are carried out in developed countries like the USA and European countries. Therefore, a detailed study and further research in developing countries like India, where activities like installing billboards and mobile phone use are increasing day by day due to the rapid urbanization of major cities in the country, are quite essential. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-02-014 Full Text: PDF
Significance
This paper presents findings about the riskiest factors faced by drivers as informed through the first large-scale, crash-only analysis of naturalistic driving data. Results indicate that many secondary tasks or activities, particularly resulting from the use of handheld electronic devices, are of detriment to driver safety. The analysis uses a large naturalistic database comprising continuous in situ observations made via multiple onboard video cameras and sensors that gathered information from more than 3,500 drivers across a 3-y period.
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 adver- tising 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 deter- mine 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 prospec- tive 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 place- ment and the environment in which the sign is seen. Further studies are required to determine factors that minimize driver distraction.
Objective:
There is an increase in electronic advertising billboards along major roads, which may cause driver distraction due to the highly conspicuous design of the electronic billboards. Yet limited research on the impact of electronic billboards on driving performance and driver behavior is available. The Swedish Transport Administration recently approved the installation of 12 electronic billboards for a trial period along a 3-lane motorway with heavy traffic running through central Stockholm, Sweden. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of these electronic billboards on visual behavior and driving performance.
Method:
A total of 41 drivers were recruited to drive an instrumented vehicle passing 4 of the electronic billboards during day and night conditions. A driver was considered visually distracted when looking at a billboard continuously for more than 2 s or if the driver looked away from the road for a high percentage of time. Dependent variables were eye-tracking measures and driving performance measures.
Results:
The visual behavior data showed that drivers had a significantly longer dwell time, a greater number of fixations, and longer maximum fixation duration when driving past an electronic billboard compared to other signs on the same road stretches. No differences were found for the factors day/night, and no effect was found for the driving behavior data.
Conclusion:
Electronic billboards have an effect on gaze behavior by attracting more and longer glances than regular traffic signs. Whether the electronic billboards attract too much attention and constitute a traffic safety hazard cannot be answered conclusively based on the present data.
Driving is getting more complex by the time due to distraction factors inside and outside the motor vehicle. One of the major external distraction causes is roadside advertising signs. This study aims at assessing the effects of these signs on driving performance on a simulator and drivers' opinion on the distraction caused by such signs using a questionnaire. Twelve volunteers participated in the driving simulator part of this study on two identical paths with one difference. One had roadside advertising signs and one had none. Driving simulator results revealed that two driving performance indicators, drifting from lane and recklessly crossing dangerous intersections, were significantly worse in the path with advertising signs as compared with performance on the other path. The other three performance indicators (number of tailgating times, overspeeding and turning or changing lanes without signaling) were also worse in the presence of advertising signs but the difference was not statistically significant. 160 drivers responded to the questionnaire. Half of the respondents indicated being distracted at least once by roadside advertising signs. Moreover, 22% of them indicated being put in a dangerous situation due to distraction caused by such signs.Relevance to industryIn light of the results, practical suggestions are made as to the positioning of these advertising signs and the need for more research in this area.
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.
The use of both linear and generalized linear mixed‐effects models ( LMM s and GLMM s) has become popular not only in social and medical sciences, but also in biological sciences, especially in the field of ecology and evolution. Information criteria, such as Akaike Information Criterion ( AIC ), are usually presented as model comparison tools for mixed‐effects models.
The presentation of ‘variance explained’ ( R ² ) as a relevant summarizing statistic of mixed‐effects models, however, is rare, even though R ² is routinely reported for linear models ( LM s) and also generalized linear models ( GLM s). R ² has the extremely useful property of providing an absolute value for the goodness‐of‐fit of a model, which cannot be given by the information criteria. As a summary statistic that describes the amount of variance explained, R ² can also be a quantity of biological interest.
One reason for the under‐appreciation of R ² for mixed‐effects models lies in the fact that R ² can be defined in a number of ways. Furthermore, most definitions of R ² for mixed‐effects have theoretical problems (e.g. decreased or negative R ² values in larger models) and/or their use is hindered by practical difficulties (e.g. implementation).
Here, we make a case for the importance of reporting R ² for mixed‐effects models. We first provide the common definitions of R ² for LM s and GLM s and discuss the key problems associated with calculating R ² for mixed‐effects models. We then recommend a general and simple method for calculating two types of R ² (marginal and conditional R ² ) for both LMM s and GLMM s, which are less susceptible to common problems.
This method is illustrated by examples and can be widely employed by researchers in any fields of research, regardless of software packages used for fitting mixed‐effects models. The proposed method has the potential to facilitate the presentation of R ² for a wide range of circumstances.
This research aims to investigate the impact of advertising signs on road safety. An exhaustive review of international literature was carried out on the effect of advertising signs on driver behaviour and safety. Moreover, a before-and-after statistical analysis with control groups was applied on several road sites with different characteristics in the Athens metropolitan area, in Greece, in order to investigate the correlation between the placement or removal of advertising signs and the related occurrence of road accidents. Road accident data for the 'before' and 'after' periods on the test sites and the control sites were extracted from the database of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, and the selected 'before' and 'after' periods vary from 2.5 to 6 years. The statistical analysis shows no statistical correlation between road accidents and advertising signs in none of the nine sites examined, as the confidence intervals of the estimated safety effects are non-significant at 95% confidence level. This can be explained by the fact that, in the examined road sites, drivers are overloaded with information (traffic signs, directions signs, labels of shops, pedestrians and other vehicles, etc.) so that the additional information load from advertising signs may not further distract them.
There is growing concern that roadside advertising presents a real risk to driving safety, with conservative estimates putting external distractors responsible for up to 10% of all road traffic accidents. In this report, we present a simulator study quantifying the effects of billboards on driver attention, mental workload and performance in Urban, Motorway and Rural environments. The results demonstrate that roadside advertising has clear adverse effects on lateral control and driver attention, in terms of mental workload. Whilst the methodological limitations of the study are acknowledged, the overriding conclusion is that prudence should be exercised when authorising or placing roadside advertising. The findings are discussed with respect to governmental policy and guidelines.
This paper discusses the application of operational criteria of causality to multivariate statistical models developed to identify sources of systematic variation in accident counts, in particular the effects of variables representing safety treatments. Nine criteria of causality serving as the basis for the discussion have been developed. The criteria resemble criteria that have been widely used in epidemiology. To assess whether the coefficients estimated in a multivariate accident prediction model represent causal relationships or are non-causal statistical associations, all criteria of causality are relevant, but the most important criterion is how well a model controls for potentially confounding factors. Examples are given to show how the criteria of causality can be applied to multivariate accident prediction models in order to assess the relationships included in these models. It will often be the case that some of the relationships included in a model can reasonably be treated as causal, whereas for others such an interpretation is less supported. The criteria of causality are indicative only and cannot provide a basis for stringent logical proof of causality.
There is growing concern that roadside advertising presents a real risk to driving safety, with conservative estimates putting external distractors responsible for up to 10% of all accidents. In this report, we present a simulator study quantifying the effects of billboards on driver attention, mental workload and performance in Urban, Motorway and Rural environments. The results demonstrate that roadside advertising has a clear detrimental effect on lateral control, increases mental workload and eye fixations, and on some roads can draw attention away from more relevant road signage. Detailed analysis of the data suggests that the effects of billboards may in fact be more consequential in scenarios which are monotonous or of lower workload. Nevertheless, the overriding conclusion is that prudence should be exercised when authorising or placing roadside advertising. The findings are discussed with respect to governmental policy and guidelines.
There is currently a great deal of interest in the problem of driver distraction. Most research focuses on distractions from inside the vehicle, but drivers can also be distracted by objects outside the vehicle. Major roads are increasingly becoming sites for advertising billboards, and there is little research on the potential effects of this advertising on driving performance. The driving simulator experiment presented here examines the effects of billboards on drivers, including older and inexperienced drivers who may be more vulnerable to distractions. The presence of billboards changed drivers' patterns of visual attention, increased the amount of time needed for drivers to respond to road signs, and increased the number of errors in this driving task.
Safety impacts of the emerging digital display technology for outdoor advertising signs
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Wachtel J. 2009. Safety impacts of the emerging digital display technology for outdoor advertising signs. Berkeley (CA): Veridian Group.
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Impact of roadside advertising on road safety
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AP-R420-13.
Assessing the empirical evidence on the safety impact of electronic static displays
- R Friswell
- E Vecellio
- R Grzebieta
- J Hatfield
- L Mooren
- M Cleaver
- M Deroos
Friswell R, Vecellio E, Grzebieta R, Hatfield J, Mooren L, Cleaver M,
DeRoos M. 2011. Assessing the empirical evidence on the safety
impact of electronic static displays. Paper presented at: Australasian
College of Road Safety Conference;
Roadside advertising signs-a review of the literature and recommendations for policy
- P Cairney
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Cairney P, Gunatillake T. 2000. Roadside advertising signs-a review of
the literature and recommendations for policy. Victoria (Australia):
AARB Transport Research for RACV.
Research review of potential safety effects of electronic billboards on driver attention and distraction
- J Farbry
- K Wochinger
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- A Nedzesky
Farbry J, Wochinger K, Shafer T, Owens N, Nedzesky A. 2001.
Research review of potential safety effects of electronic billboards on
driver attention and distraction. Washington (DC): Federal Highway
Administration.
The impact of roadside advertising on driver distraction. Bassingstoke (UK): WSP Development and Transportation
- S Speirs
- A Winmill
- T Kazi
Speirs S, Winmill A, Kazi T. 2008. The impact of roadside advertising
on driver distraction. Bassingstoke (UK): WSP Development and
Transportation.
): Foundation for Outdoor Advertising Research and Education
- A M Tantala
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Statistical analysis of the relationship between on-premise digital signage and traffic safety
- G H Hawkins
- P Kuo
- D Lord
Hawkins GH, Kuo P, Lord D. 2012. Statistical analysis of the relationship between on-premise digital signage and traffic safety. College
Station (TX): Texas A&M University.