> The operator claimed they don't run them in the dark I think the following progression of events leads to many of those blindingly bright digital signs at ni

> The operator claimed they don't run them in the dark I think the following progression of events leads to many of those blindingly bright digital signs at night: Original sign conforms with regulations and comes with a light sensor to dynamically adjust brightness. It's bright during the day, dim during the night. After a few months the light sensors gets gunked up with dirt. Display now thinks its night all the time. It's way too dim to see in daylight. People running the display don't like that you can't read their ads during the day. They realize that cleaning the sensor every X days will be expensive, so they get someone to defeat the light sensor altogether and get the display to run at full brightness all the time. Result is a sign that's still making money during those valuable rush-hour traffic times, at the cost of beaming deathrays into driver's eyeballs at night.