Research review of potential safety effects of electronic billboards on driver attention and distraction

This report is a research review of potential safety implications of electronic billboards (EBBs) on driving safety. The review covers the interval from a similar review published in 1980 to the present. The present review focuses on the safety aspects of EBBs and does not examine aesthetic issues. Included are a review of research on driver performance in the presence of EBBs and contacts with federal and state officials to describe state regulatory practices concerning EBBs. An account of tri-vision signs is a part of the state review. Knowledge gaps are identified based on the literature review and these gaps support the development of a set of research questions and related research findings. Research questions are divided into roadway characteristics such as curves, interchanges, and work zones; EBB characteristics such as exposure time, motion and legibility; and driver characteristics such as familiarity and age. Related research findings on the legibility of Changeable Message Signs (CMSs) are also included. with cellular telephone use linked customer telephone bills to crash records maintained at the New York Collision Reporting Center to identify telephone use at the time of a crash. The study concluded that cellular telephone use quadrupled the risk of a crash during the call. Another epidemiological study performed by Violanti (35) found a 34 percent increase in risk of crash among vehicles with celluar telephones. correct detection rate to report the presence of an LED dot shown at slightly different locations on a windshield while: 1) driving on country roads and a 2) performing a secondary task while driving. The were projected 11-23 to the left of the straight-ahead view and 2-4 degrees above the horizon. This approximates the visual angle that corresponds to a pedestrian or some roadside signs. significant CD manipulation task backwards counting longer performance in fewer correct detections than baseline driving task This paper presents the results of a study of driver responses to executing conventional in-vehicle tasks and to operating a novel re-configurable, multifunction information system inside the vehicle. Six older and six younger drivers operated an instrumented test vehicle along a two-lane divided highway. Visual scanning behavior and driving task performance were measured while the research participants executed conventional tasks (e.g., climate control, audio control, and cellular telephone use) and advanced /future tasks (e.g., e-mail, navigation, audio, voice and video communications). The results showed that drivers completed all the tasks by means of a series of 1-1.5 sec glances to the in-vehicle display/control systems. Mean glance frequency increased linearly with mean task completion time, but mean glance duration remained constant over the range of mean task times observed. Mean task completion times were about twice as long for the re-configurable, multifunction information system as for the conventional in-vehicle devices. Certain driving task variables were correlated with mean task completion time. Both speed variability and lane variability (peak lateral acceleration) increased linearly as a function of mean task completion time. Although variability within the driving lane increased with task time, lane departure did not. Thus the research participants tended to stay in the lane, but exhibited more aggressive lateral position adjustments as the in-vehicle tasks became more complex and took