Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs

[patric]

The Tulsa Whirled acknowledged receiving this letter about a month ago, which seems about long enough to determine whether it got swept under the carpet or not...

(re: writing on wall for rules on signs, March 24 World, A-11)

That the average citizen doesn't skip work to attend public meetings isn't a reliable indication of a lack of community support for more responsible sign laws.  Likewise, the failure of police departments to consistently document glare and commercial distractions in accident reports shouldn't justify a 'lawless frontier' approach to outdoor advertising.

The Federal Highway Administration's "Research and Review of Potential Safety Effects of Electronic Billboards on Driver Attention and Distraction" summarized the problem of annoying and sometimes dangerous signage in 2001.

By then, 36 states prohibited flashing or moving illumination, 36 prohibited glare or impairment of driver's vision, 11 prohibited animation or moving parts, 8 states regulated the timing of electronic messages, and some communities have banned billboards altogether, the USDOT found.  Since then, what the billboard industry calls "spectacular signage" has continued to multiply in certain areas virtually unchecked due to outdated ordinances and lack of enforcement.

Only when some of the 'good guys' like the library inadvertently fell under a proposal aimed at curbing the worst offenders did the initiative head back to the drawing board.

If there is any writing on the walls, it would certainly be that any sign operators interpreting the regrouping of INCOG's reforms as a greenlight to more stroboscopic Vegas-strip eyesores might find their necks first on the chopping block once real sign inspectors begin enforcing real sign ordinances.

[patric]

(This topic had a number of responses that have since been purged, so please excuse the gap).

Board rejects digital billboards
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070314_1_A7_hThez64288

The Board of Adjustment rejected attempts Tuesday by a Tulsa company to install the city's first digital display billboards.  Lamar Outdoor Advertising had proposed four locations for the new technology.

After a lengthy discussion, the board agreed unanimously that the proposed billboards would not be in compliance with the city's zoning code.

The board also rejected Lamar's request for a variance to the city code that would have allowed the billboards to be installed.
Board members, however, made it clear that they are not opposed to the technology itself.

Two people spoke in opposition to the proposed billboards, arguing, in part, that the existing  city code on outdoor advertising signs should not be adjusted by the board but rewritten to incorporate the new technology.


The original application is worth reading:
http://www.incog.org/City%20of%20Tulsa%20BOA/CBOA%20Agenda/20445a.pdf
.

[cannon_fodder]

I have mixed opinions.  Is a digital billboard going to be more distracting than the hot blond in the car next to you?  Or the kids on the sidewalk?  Or the McDonald's in your lap?  Or...

American drivers are horribly distracted constantly.  I'm not sure we need to add to the problem, but would this really add to the problem?  Is it any more of a distraction that a company with a digital marquee out front - if not, should we ban those?

Maybe I just think they're cool - but in certain instances I dont think they would be a problem.

[sgrizzle]

If it's going to be a big flashing casino sign then no. A slow-changing display not brighter than an existing billboard would be okay. It should be statis images that change no quicker than every minute. Kinda like the current billboards that can change.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

If it's going to be a big flashing casino sign then no. A slow-changing display not brighter than an existing billboard would be okay. It should be static images that change no quicker than every minute.

It's been almost two years to the day that TMAPC voted to to close the public hearing on Electronic Billboards and send the proposed amendments for the Zoning Code back to staff for further study.

http://www.incog.org/TMAPC/Approved%20Minutes/2005/03-16-05.pdf

It was intended that some time be used to hammer out new wording for the Zoning Code that would protect us from casino-type "spectaculars" while allowing more moderate and responsible uses of newer technology, but it appears the time was used to push the installation of more offensive signage that *might* be grandfathered in once the sign code were brought up to date.

[grahambino]

i dont think it would add to the already distracted driving public.  I mean FFS have you driven down Riverside near the Creek Casino at night?  That sign about sends me into seizure-land.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by grahambino

i dont think it would add to the already distracted driving public.  I mean FFS have you driven down Riverside near the Creek Casino at night?  That sign about sends me into seizure-land.

Are you saying you're OK with that?  
Just another (ahem) sign of progress were helpless to do anything about?

[grahambino]

quote:Originally posted by patric

quote:Originally posted by grahambino

i dont think it would add to the already distracted driving public.  I mean FFS have you driven down Riverside near the Creek Casino at night?  That sign about sends me into seizure-land.

Are you saying you're OK with that?  
Just another (ahem) sign of progress were helpless to do anything about?

im just very sensitive to flashing lights and generally try to avoid them. my point was that the precident has been set. I dont see a problem w/ something similar, but that one in particular is awfully bright and very distracting.

[patric]

Some question safety of using digital signs.
Daktronics says billboards can be a public service; others say too distracting
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/NEWS02/703260303/1001/NEWS

Seven 14-foot by 48-foot digital billboards in the Cleveland metro area are displaying a mug shot and information about escaped convict David Green, who is on the America's Most Wanted list and feared to be armed and dangerous.

Brookings-based Daktronics, which makes digital electronic billboards at its Sioux Falls plant, is promoting use of the signs as a public service.

"These billboards are widely seen by the public," said Chris Gates, digital billboard project manager for Daktronics. "People are discovering these things are pretty useful."

But cities across the country from Rapid City to Atlanta are passing or considering ordinances to ban or limit the use of electronic billboards and message signs for fear that they might distract motorists. Advertising firms have placed an estimated 700 electronic billboards nationwide, and a federal study soon will be conducted to try to gauge the billboards' safety.

That's good news to Scenic America, a Washington, D.C.-based group that opposes many forms of outdoor advertising.

"It's impossible to argue that a giant electronic sign with changing images does not distract you for any given amount of time," president Kevin Fry said. "There is no definitive research up about whether these things are safe."

Daktronics started producing digital billboards last fall and says the signs don't pose any more distraction to people than traditional billboards if they're used properly.

The billboards are gaining in popularity with advertising firms nationwide because one board can display multiple ads throughout the day, and clients can tailor advertising to specific audiences and times of day.

Sioux Falls has three of the signs, operated by outdoor advertising firm Lamar, that can display various ads on an eight-second cycle. The Sioux Falls City Council in January gave the go-ahead to allow the signs to rotate images.

In Rapid City, the City Council last week approved amendments to the city's sign ordinance that will force advertisers to dim the brightness of electronic billboards and message boards so they won't distract drivers and pedestrians. The amendments also ban flashing images and moving animation. Existing signs and billboards will be grandfathered in.

Daktronics' billboards can display video, but Gates said the company adjusts the signs' capabilities to match how it will be used. The company also works with local governments to help establish sign ordinances to meet the best use of the technology, he said.

"Certainly the regulating of things like this is, for us, a good thing to do," Gates said. "Because in our case, when people misuse your equipment, it makes you look bad."

Opponents say the signs, whether they display stationary images, flash images or use moving video, are dangerous because they naturally attract more attention.

Fry pointed to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study on driver behavior released last year that found distractions in which a driver spent more than two seconds looking away from the road contributed to 22 percent of overall road accidents.

Gates pointed to other studies that found drivers are most distracted by things inside the car such as cell phones, radios and food.

"They basically find that there are a very small number of things outside the vehicle that are distracting to drivers," he said.

The Federal Highway Administration recently announced a $150,000 study to evaluate the safety of electronic billboards.

Gates said Daktronics probably will be involved with any study on the technology.

"We want to make sure everyone has a say in how these things are used," Gates said. "It helps us to understand what type of product we need to develop."

[patric]

Bill would shelter unsightly billboards
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-billboards-bill_N.htm

WASHINGTON — A bill the Senate takes up today to provide emergency funds for military operations and Katrina victims also would help billboard advertisers that donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats and Republicans for the 2006 election.

A provision tucked into the $122 billion measure at the request of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would exempt older billboards in 13 Southern states, stretching from Florida to New Mexico, from regulation under the 1965 Highway Beautification Act.

The provision would let billboard companies rebuild signs damaged by hurricanes even if the new ones violate laws regulating the size and placement of outdoor advertising. Reid says he's trying to protect the rights of businesses hurt by the storms: "Why shouldn't they be able to replace their property like anybody else?"

Kevin Fry of Scenic America, a non-profit group that opposes Reid's move, says there's a good reason: The billboards are eyesores that would be barred today.

Fry says Reid's efforts would be "a grotesque weakening" of the Highway Beautification Act, a legacy of President Lyndon Johnson's wife, Lady Bird. It lets states regulate billboards along federal highways.

Fry says states often prohibit signs that are too large, too close together or located along rural and scenic routes. About 75,000 signs built before the regulations remain, Fry says: "It's the worst kind of blight."

Hurricanes destroyed some in Florida and Gulf Coast states in 2004 and 2005. Hal Kilshaw, vice president of Lamar Advertising of Baton Rouge, one of the advertising firms pushing to rebuild, says, "States should be able to decide," not Washington.

For the 2006 election, the Outdoor Advertising Association's political action committee (PAC) gave $143,000 to Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a non-partisan group that tracks contributions. Lamar gave $70,000 to congressional candidates, the group says.

Reid's PAC received $16,000 from outdoor advertisers, according to PoliticalMoneyLine. In a letter to senators last week, Reid said the exemption "is a matter of personal importance to me." develop."

[patric]

Take a look at what Boston did with their sign ordinance:

http://cityofboston.gov/bra/pdf/ZoningCode/Article11.pdf

Look at section 11-7 on page 7.

Electronic signs are prohibited except in a few specific entertainment districts, and cannot be operated between 3:00AM and 7:00AM, luminance is
limited to 500 candella per square meter among other restrictions and guidelines.

This code was written for electronic signs in an urban context, not billboards out along the highway.

[patric]

The City Council on Thursday is expected to approve a moratorium on construction of new LED signs and billboards until May 1.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/common/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleID=071018_1_A11_hTheC35421

Councilor Bill Martinson suggested the moratorium as a temporary solution until the Sign Advisory Board can complete drafting regulations for the new type of light-emitting diode signs that are popping up across the city.

Councilor Bill Christiansen said he was driving on Yale Avenue recently when he was startled by a new LED sign.

"The light hit me, and it was flashing, and it took my night vision, as far as driving my car," he said. "It was tremendously bright. It's just amazing how bright they are."

Shannon Benge, the city's inspection services manager, said the issue arose after the Board of Adjustment asked for a recommendation during an appeal of a case in which the board denied the sign.

For the last few months, Benge and the Sign Advisory Board have researched how other cities deal with LED signs and billboards but have found no common method.

The main issue is finding a way to measure the light emitted by the signs, she said. Traditional light meters don't work on the LED signs, she added.

Benge said the city recently found a piece of equipment for $3,000 that can measure both static lights and lights in motion emitted by LED signs.

Being able to measure the light "was the big stumbling block," she said.

She said draft language of regulations to be added to the city's zoning ordinances is being reviewed by the city's Planning Commission and Legal Department.

[Wilbur]

I think it would just be easier if people would pay attention to driving.  What a concept!

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

I think it would just be easier if people would pay attention to driving.  What a concept!

It would be nice, but sometimes we cant sit around and hope for a happy ending.  You have to work with what you've got to improve your situation and sometimes that comes in the form of taking small steps in the right direction.

Putting rational restraints on outdoor advertising illumination improves both our real safety and our quality of life.  We've seen how the sign industry regulates itself, now it's time to hear from the people who have to live under them.

I dont consider a dazzling stroboscopic distraction in traffic or a giant-screen TV outside my bedroom window a "public service" just because it also includes time and temp., but I do consider the brains behind these nuisances to be intelligent enough to know that the extreme isnt always the only option.

[rwarn17588]

<patric wrote:

Putting rational restraints on outdoor advertising illumination improves both our real safety and our quality of life.

<end clip>

The key word is "rational."

There are neon signs all over Central Avenue in Albuquerque. They are not causing wrecks, nor are they keeping people away. People are flocking there in droves.

What's wrong with having commercial signs in, you know, commercial areas?

Buncha whiners. If you don't like the lights of the city, move to the country.

Of course, out there they'll whine about the varmints, too.