Advertising signs placed on the sides of roadways are designed to detract driver attention from driving tasks, and therefore may affect driver performance and cause accidents. In Israel, the issue has appeared in headlines in recent years due to the prevalence of billboards and due to public debate concerning the signposting law proposal of 2006. Following the discussions in the Israeli Parliament and the decision of the Court, in 2008 the billboards adjacent to the Ayalon Highway were forbidden. As a result, an opportunity appeared enabling us to carry out a comparative analysis of accident occurrences in two periods - with and without roadside billboards. In this study we examined the relationship between the presence of advertising signs and road safety through: (a) a quantitative summary of the findings of studies on the effect of advertising signs and accidents conducted in other countries, (b) an examination of the effect of removing advertising signs adjacent to the Ayalon Highway on accident occurrences. Another part of the research was to develop a method for assessing the impact of billboards on traffic and driver behaviour, through field observations at signalized junctions. This part was not executed due to technological constraints. (Author/publisher)
Abstract