Highways England Installs Digital Signage to Bolster Traffic Safety

Contrary to what opponents believe, outdoor, digital signage actually represents a safety advantage for motorists, to the extent that it’s increasingly being specified by authorities in the UK. https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/uk-installs-next-generation-digital-signage-on-its-roads-4499 Bill DundasBill Dundas, a 40-year veteran of the on-premise sign industry as a fabricator, installer and journalist, is President/Executive Director of the Foundation for the Advancement […]

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Australian Study Affirms Safety of Outdoor Digital Signs

The Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) conducted this study on behalf of the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) and the results directly refute a key assumption of digital signage opponents. https://www.cmo.com.au/article/660096/oma-study-finds-digital-billboards-can-improve-driver-awareness-safety/ Bill DundasBill Dundas, a 40-year veteran of the on-premise sign industry as a fabricator, installer and journalist, is President/Executive Director of the Foundation for the […]

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National Academies’ Nighttime Overhead Signage Luminance Levels

The National Academies Press issued an 80-page report, in May 2017, entitled “Guidelines for Nighttime Overhead Sign Visibility.” It includes a chart headlined “Luminance Levels for Overhead Signs.” It lists five different visual complexity levels, ranging from a dark rural area to a commercial downtown district. It then suggests minimum luminance levels in terms of candelas per square foot and […]

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Texas/Pennsylvania DOT Studies Says Clearview Font Improves Sign Legibility

A study conducted jointly by the Texas and Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation in April 2006 concluded the Clearview font increased the visibility distance for drives by 12% versus the existing Series E Modified font. In 1994, the Federal Highway Administration determined highway signs were no longer visible enough for a population that included older drivers. Over the next […]

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Texas A&M Study Shows No Correlation Between EMCs and Traffic Accidents

In 2012, Texas A&M University’s Texas Transportation Institute conducted a study to see if electronic message centers (EMCs) cause traffic accidents. Research included data from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) own Highway Safety Information System (HSIS), a comprehensive database of traffic-accident records from several states. Researchers identified 135 cites in which EMCs had recently been […]

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Do Electronic Message Centers Cause Traffic Accidents?

Subjective statements often suggest that electronic message centers (EMCs) cause traffic accidents because they are distracting. Yet, does any empirical evidence document this theory? No. In 1980, the Federal Highway Administration published its “Safety and Environmental Design Considerations in the Use of Commercial Electronic Variable-Message Signs” study, which was hugely inconclusive. It conducted the study […]

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