OT: Advertiser vs Personal rights (or are they rights?)

[William]

Is it just me, or does anyone else find those big LED billboards extremely annoying? On the drive to work I pass one of these every morning. It's placed directly at a bend in the highway so that you can see it right smack in the middle of your windshield as your driving down the highway. The straight leading up to it is over a mile long and once you pull on to that stretch you can easily see it from 1.2 miles away. Not only is it G-D awful ugly with the changing scenes and flashing colors it's highly distracting to drivers. I'm usually a live and let live kind of person, but I find these things ugly and offensive. I couldn't imagine living with one of those in view of my home. Basically it's a giant TV that's on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Reminds me of the company that wanted to send up satellites that would unfurl giant screens to run advertising on that could be seen from anywhere on the ground. Can you imagine hiking and camping out in the pristine wilderness, laying out by the fire, gazing up at the stars to look at the Milky way.....and the flashing Coca-Cola, Pepto-Bismal, & Viagra sign?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?



Where is the line? What is the line?



William

[keno]

your post caused me think that I do wonder how many accidents the ever-more-disorienting lights on stopped police cars cause, particularly on two-lane roads at night making it nearly impossible to tell where the road went even at the necessary crawl pace.

keno

[William]

your post caused me think that I do wonder how many accidents the ever-more-disorienting lights on stopped police cars cause, particularly on two-lane roads at night making it nearly impossible to tell where the road went even at the necessary crawl pace.

keno

Brings up an interesting point Keno, a lot of emergency vehicles are hit every year. I wonder how much that may have to do with the bright flashing lights? They seem to get brighter and more disorienting all the time, mainly in an attempt to make them more noticable.



William

PS: It also makes me wonder how many times you get pulled over every year??? ;)

[Kevan]

Do you find those little video screens in other people's cars somewhat distracting? Kinda makes you want to drive real close to see what they're watching.

Okay! So I'm a moth!

[William]

Do you find those little video screens in other people's cars somewhat distracting? Kinda makes you want to drive real close to see what they're watching.

Okay! So I'm a moth!

Saw a motorhome with a porn flick going on the screen inside while driving down the hwy. I did the best Richard Petty NASCAR drafting impression you ever did see.... :banana:




William ;)

[Dekonick]

Brings up an interesting point Keno, a lot of emergency vehicles are hit every year. I wonder how much that may have to do with the bright flashing lights? They seem to get brighter and more disorienting all the time, mainly in an attempt to make them more noticable.



William

PS: It also makes me wonder how many times you get pulled over every year??? ;)

Don't forget that emergency vehicles that are hit usually are in a location where an accident has already occured. Often the same cause of the first accident will cause the second one. Also remember that emergency vehicles are positioned to protect rescue workers - thus they are often blocking a travel lane or 2 of the road. A driver who is not paying attention can easily hit a large and brightly lit emergency vehicle - after all the road shouldn't have anything blocking it - right?

I have had a few close calls myself...

I am also of the belief that the lights and siren's should be used only when absolutely necessary - it would probably be safer to remove 'em alltogether but then what fun would it be to drive a fire engine? :rolleyes:

[Ahneida Ride]

THe Interstates down south are just lined with Billboards.

Main roads are just sing with sign after sign all trying to outdo one another.
At some point, I can't seperate the signal from the noise.

and to boot they are all just FUGLY.

I'm with William. Vt and NH ban road signs.

[William]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_advertising

http://onthecommons.org/node/575?PHPSESSID=467d69ee41293c6104939ccc30c69bfc

http://www.newrules.org/info/space.html


William

[keno]

it's this way. Every PBA that asks for money I send a check to and put the sticker on the rear window of my car. It took me four years to discover that one check was going to the Professional Bowlers Association.

keno

[Sandy]

Do you find those little video screens in other people's cars somewhat distracting? Kinda makes you want to drive real close to see what they're watching.

Okay! So I'm a moth!

I wish!!


Sandy

[jemoryl]

We don't have too many of those signs around here (NJ). Maybe those signs are ripe for a little re-programming? A few years back, 2600 Magazine had an article about those flashing message boards that are located along many highways by the state DOT with important messages like "Slow Down and Live" etc. Turns out the access to program these signs is behind a panel locked with a combination lock. And the manufacturer uses a default combination which is seldom changed by the state because they want all the workers to know what the correct combo is.

Wonder if anyone has hacked the ad boards?

[William]

Just in case we are talking different boards: This is the new LED technology which basicaly turns the sign into a full color television. Instead of moving pictures they look like it's a freeze frame shot from a television commercial.


William

Example:

http://www.grandwell.com/images/solns/brz_billboard.jpg

[Grant McLean]

Just in case we are talking different boards: This is the new LED technology which basicaly turns the sign into a full color television. Instead of moving pictures they look like it's a freeze frame shot from a television commercial.


William


bladerunner?

g

[AgilisMerlin]

Just in case we are talking different boards: This is the new LED technology which basicaly turns the sign into a full color television. Instead of moving pictures they look like it's a freeze frame shot from a television commercial.


William

Example:

http://www.grandwell.com/images/solns/brz_billboard.jpg


I am glad i stopped tripping and shrooming years ago, 18 years - to be exact, cause that kind of sign, size, and distraction could of done me some real emotional damage, as well as physical. :banana:


AmerliN

[1centaur]

Bladerunner is exactly what I thought of when I read the OP. I think LED billboards are bound to be more effective media than posted billboards, and reduce labor costs as well. Anyone who has been to Vegas lately will note the rapid ascension of moving video signs along the Strip, just over the last 2 years. There has not been a massive accident problem there even though the signs are inherently more interesting to the drivers than generic bollboards would be. If the light output is kept fairly low I doubt anyone will be able to prove they cause accidents, and the Bladerunner scenario thus seems inevitable.

Yes, there may be politicians in some locations that stop the progression for a while for aesthetic and/or faux saftey reasons. Let's face it, most roads that have the traffic to support the ad spend for LED billboards are not very aesthetically pleasing to begin with. Unless aesthetics become a US priority (a luxury I don't expect in my lifetime), the bird has flown the coop. Look for the giant Coca-Cola hologram by the side of the road in 2014.

[A.L.Breguet]

Doesn't this work anymore?