Billboards such as this along Federal Highway can be distracting to motorists.
MANY motorists feel digital billboards, mushrooming along roads and highways, need to be better regulated.
Present guidelines for billboards seem to focus more on the structural safety and not much on content criteria, says a road safety researcher.
Ahmad Azad says present guidelines are more focused on structural safety and not much on content criteria.Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) chief research officer Dr Ahmad Azad Ab Rashid said the guidelines seem to concentrate more on a billboard’s structural details, such as the permitted locations, structural dimensions, and installation requirements, to reduce the risk of it being a road hazard.
“There is not much control on the content criteria.
“The regulatory bodies for the structure are the land/road owners where the billboard stands and the relevant local authorities,” he said.
He added that guidelines for billboards had been set by Works Ministry.
Ahmad Azad said there were two safety concerns with billboards, namely the structure being a hazard and the content being a distraction.
“The study on distractions while driving is one of the toughest topics in road safety research because of its nature.
“We need to have naturalistic settings, which are usually more costly and time consuming.
“Nevertheless, despite limited insights from our local study, we did find proof that billboards distract motorists,” he said.
Ahmad Azad said advertisements were designed to capture people’s attention and the shift in a driver’s attention posed a risk to public safety.
“Miros has a method to measure the average time a driver may take to read the contents on a billboard fully.
“We can then categorise the risk of the billboard’s content from very low to critical. (Very low risk, low risk, high risk, very high risk, severe risk and critical risk.)
“The shorter time, the better. Shorter reading time means shorter diversion of driver’s attention, hence lowering the risk.
“Unfortunately, there are many billboards with content that is between high risk and severe risk,” he noted, adding that many billboards were wordy and had too many details.
Despite establishing that billboards were a distraction to drivers, Ahmad Azad said research had yet to prove a connection that these billboards caused accidents.
“However, a quasi-experiment on a suburban highway in the Middle East in 2019 had proved the connection between billboards and road accidents there.
“Researchers (there) found a strong indication that billboards increased road accidents between 30% to 50%.
“The study examined the impact of advertising billboards on accidents along the highway while considering two situations, namely the removal of billboards on the road and its subsequent restoration.
“The accidents that took place during three different periods, which were the time when the billboards were visible, after it was removed and later when it was reinstated, was recorded.
“The results showed that there was a systematic downward trend in the number of accidents after the billboards were removed.
“When the billboards were restored, there was an upward trend in the number of accidents,” he said.
Ahmad Azad said there was a need to look into more aspects in regulating the billboards and its advertisements.
In the Works Ministry’s guidelines, it is stated that the billboards must be audited every six months but it is not clear on who conducts it.
Researchers at Poznan University of Technology in Poland had reported in 2012 that large size billboards with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) had a negative impact on driver’s vision conditions, especially at night.
Factors resulting in the negative impacts were photometric (a branch of science that deals with measurement of the intensity of light) parameters, special character of images and inappropriate location.
Photometric parameters of billboards, which is high luminance at low background value against high contrast of images, was found to dazzle drivers.
Special characters of images such as dynamic changes, flashing and contents for memorisation were found to disrupt the process of seeing the road.
The inappropriate location of the billboards such as near intersections, roundabouts, road vicinity, at low heights and before road traffic signs, also had an influence.
Based on the results, the researchers suggested that certain requirements and limitations need to be set for large sized billboards.
The suggestions include to set a maximum luminance of the billboard surface at different times of the day, a minimum advertisement display time of 10 seconds, and be strict about unsuitable location.
The researchers also advised against the use of moving images, visual effects, interval between consecutive images and information that will need to be memorised such as addresses, websites, emails and phone numbers.
‘Legal billboards are safe’
Maaresh says worldwide studies have proven digital out-of-home advertising does not cause undue distraction to drivers.Outdoor Advertising Association Malaysia (OAAM) president Maaresh Starling said digital billboards were safe and would not affect motorists’ behaviour.
He said out-of-home advertising was a highly regulated industry.
“The legal digital out-of-home structures are erected based on various approvals and compliance from the authorities.
“There are brightness guidelines, day and night, to ensure suitable levels of illumination, which OAAM members adhere to.
“Extensive studies conducted worldwide have proven that digital out-of-home advertising does not cause undue distraction to drivers.
“OAAM does consider public opinion and will review legitimate concerns or complaints by valid process.
“The views of one or a few individuals should not overshadow the community benefits of the industry,” he said.
