The effect of billboard design specifications on driving: A pilot study

Area of Science:

• Road safety
• Human factors in transportation
• Cognitive psychology

Background:

• Previous research on advertising billboards and road safety yielded inconclusive results.
• A need exists to identify specific billboard characteristics that distract drivers.
• Developing guidelines for permissible billboards can enhance road safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of different advertising billboard types on driver performance.
• To identify specific billboard characteristics that negatively affect driving tasks.
• To lay the groundwork for evidence-based guidelines on billboard design.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a triple task paradigm simulating driving components.
• 161 real advertising billboard photographs served as stimuli.
• Analyzed driver performance on tracking and color identification tasks across five billboard clusters.

Main Results:

• 'Loaded Billboards' (Cluster 5) significantly impaired tracking task performance.
• 'Graphical Billboards' (Cluster 4) negatively affected color change identification.
• 'Minimal Billboards' (Cluster 3) showed no significant impact on performance.

Conclusions:

• Specific billboard designs, particularly 'Loaded' and 'Graphical' types, demonstrably impair driver performance.
• Further research in driving simulators and field studies is recommended to validate these findings.
• Results can inform the development of regulations for less distracting roadside advertising.