Roadside ads distract drivers and raise accident risks — survey findings.
Tow trucks are being called more often because roadside advertising provokes traffic accidents
The real cause of road accidents is not related to outdoor advertising. This conclusion was reached after a desk study conducted by the Russian holding ROMIR Monitoring. The study was compiled on the basis of research results carried out by foreign companies, as well as after reviewing articles in foreign newspapers. This is not the first study ROMIR Monitoring has conducted. They first looked into this in 2006 (from March 9 to 22). At that time men and women over eighteen who drive were surveyed. A total of 1,255 people from Moscow, Novosibirsk and Nizhny Novgorod took part in the survey. As noted in the second study, abroad the issue of the influence of outdoor advertising on the behavior of drivers has been actively discussed for a very long time. Methods were developed to address this issue, and numerous studies were conducted, resulting in certain conclusions. They state that, although outdoor advertising is supposed to attract people's attention (including that of drivers), it is not considered a real cause of road traffic accidents. This study was commissioned by the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia.
In any case, if an accident occurs, a tow truck will help transport the damaged vehicle.
The influence of outdoor advertising was first studied in the United States in 1951. Experts began conducting laboratory and field studies on the issue. They noted that due to the steady increase in the number of advertising media, drivers might get into accidents because they would be distracted by this relatively unfamiliar form of advertising. The research that year showed that the growing number of outdoor advertisements along roads leads to an increase in accidents that occur because drivers are distracted by billboards.
However, a study conducted the following year refuted those conclusions. Experts demonstrated that outdoor advertising does not affect the behavior of a person behind the wheel. The Automobile Association of the American Road Safety Organization studied about five thousand accident cases over four years (from 1995 to 1999). It turned out that none of those accidents occurred because the driver was looking at billboards.