Outdoor advertising is an expanding industry, both within Australia and overseas. Designed to be noticed, outdoor advertising signs have the potential, in theory at least, to distract drivers or other road users at critical moments in the driving task, and so to create potentially unsafe situations on the road. Unregulated signage can also lead to visual clutter and the degradation of buildings and natural landscapes. This would not be in the interests of the community, government or the outdoor advertising industry itself. A policy on this issue should aim to accommodate the increasing demand for outdoor advertising whilst ensuring that it does not result in loss of amenity or safety to the road user. ARRB Transport Research has been commissioned to conduct an extensive review of literature documenting the effects of outdoor advertising on the road user and the environment as well as evaluate existing guidelines in Australia and overseas. The main outcome of the review is a set of policy recommendations relating to the use, appearance and placement of roadside advertising signs which could be incorporated in guidelines, regulations and policies used by Victorian State and Local Government to regulate roadside advertising throughout the State. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting