TV In The Sky

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor debates the safety of the growing number of digital video screen billboards:

As billboard companies scurried to erect more [digital billboards] around the city, the Atlanta City Council in January enacted a temporary ban on the signs. It's one in a string of communities from Concord, N.H., to Eden Prairie, Minn., that has raised questions about the safety of TVs in the sky.

...

...critics say the very reason the signs appeal to advertisers is the reason they pose a danger on the roadways: The billboards are designed to distract. A study on driver behavior released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last April showed that distractions in which a driver spent more than two seconds looking elsewhere than the road contributed to 22 percent of overall accidents.

"People need to know these enormous TV sets are going to pop up along highways.... It's going to be a significant safety issue for the country," says Kevin Fry, president of Scenic America, a group in Washington that lobbies to keep highways clear of clutter.

Read the entire article here.