4 ms·

I've never understood why billboards are legal. They're distracting and placed along the roads and highways. In my driving course I remember being told that e

I've never understood why billboards are legal. They're distracting and placed along the roads and highways. In my driving course I remember being told that even so much as talking to a passenger or adjusting the volume of the radio can be dangerous so you should be paying 100% attention to the road. So why are billboards, things that are specifically built, along roads, to draw my attention legal? So let's go adfreecities!

bigstrat2003 3y ago
I got the same lecture in driver's ed, but let's be honest: that was never accurate. It's perfectly fine to talk to someone while you're driving, or to adjust the volume on the radio real quick. I imagine that the lectures given to teens learning to drive are motivated by the fact that new drivers need to focus more, and are stubborn so they need to have the point driven home harder. For a responsible adult driver, neither conversation nor radio adjustments nor billboards are a dangerous distraction. I do think that billboards are ugly and would prefer to not have them, but I don't think that there is a reasonable justification to ban them on safety grounds.
- JAlexoid 3y ago
  If billboards are a safety hazard, then all road signs are as well. (But they aren't)
  - rurp 3y ago
    Road signs provide information for roads to function properly, so even if they are a distraction the tradeoff is worth it. Billboards provide no such utility, they only impose costs on drivers for the benefit of ad companies and their customers.
    - JAlexoid 3y ago
      Then it would be easy for you to provide multiple studies, saying that billboards are distracting. Not just your opinion, but a lot of concrete evidence. We have had billboards for decades now. There's tonnes of data on where accidents happen. Yet no one seems to be able to provide data based backing to their opinions...
  - bryanlarsen 3y ago
    Actually, there is evidence that removing signs in some conditions make streets safer. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/04/removal-road-markings-safer-fewer-accidents-drivers https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/04/remova...
dantyti 3y ago
I wholeheartedly agree. Furthermore, we now have ads that are giant flashy LED screens at the busiest intersections. The most distracting thing you could think of (flashy ads) at.the.busiest.intersection... really gets on my nerve Also, I think this is also a matter of accessibility: these ad vendors are endangering drivers with various health or mental conditions/disorders (e.g., ADD, ADHD, AS).
matheusmoreira 3y ago
Because advertisers think their concerns over their profits override literally everything. How will the poor corporations make money if they can't flood people's senses with bullshit information they don't want or need? Driving accidents? Small price to pay, the Instagram model needs followers for her fashion business so it's totally fine for an ad depicting her in a bikini to be placed right in front of a dangerous roundabout where accidents happen on a monthly basis. I wish I was kidding, that exact ad is located just over 1 kilometer away from my house. I should take a picture of it.
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago
People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs. - Banksy

bigstrat2003 3y ago

I got the same lecture in driver's ed, but let's be honest: that was never accurate. It's perfectly fine to talk to someone while you're driving, or to adjust the volume on the radio real quick. I imagine that the lectures given to teens learning to drive are motivated by the fact that new drivers need to focus more, and are stubborn so they need to have the point driven home harder. For a responsible adult driver, neither conversation nor radio adjustments nor billboards are a dangerous distraction. I do think that billboards are ugly and would prefer to not have them, but I don't think that there is a reasonable justification to ban them on safety grounds.

JAlexoid 3y ago
If billboards are a safety hazard, then all road signs are as well. (But they aren't)
- rurp 3y ago
  Road signs provide information for roads to function properly, so even if they are a distraction the tradeoff is worth it. Billboards provide no such utility, they only impose costs on drivers for the benefit of ad companies and their customers.
  - JAlexoid 3y ago
    Then it would be easy for you to provide multiple studies, saying that billboards are distracting. Not just your opinion, but a lot of concrete evidence. We have had billboards for decades now. There's tonnes of data on where accidents happen. Yet no one seems to be able to provide data based backing to their opinions...
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  Actually, there is evidence that removing signs in some conditions make streets safer. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/04/removal-road-markings-safer-fewer-accidents-drivers https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/04/remova...

dantyti 3y ago

I wholeheartedly agree. Furthermore, we now have ads that are giant flashy LED screens at the busiest intersections. The most distracting thing you could think of (flashy ads) at.the.busiest.intersection... really gets on my nerve Also, I think this is also a matter of accessibility: these ad vendors are endangering drivers with various health or mental conditions/disorders (e.g., ADD, ADHD, AS).

matheusmoreira 3y ago

Because advertisers think their concerns over their profits override literally everything. How will the poor corporations make money if they can't flood people's senses with bullshit information they don't want or need? Driving accidents? Small price to pay, the Instagram model needs followers for her fashion business so it's totally fine for an ad depicting her in a bikini to be placed right in front of a dangerous roundabout where accidents happen on a monthly basis. I wish I was kidding, that exact ad is located just over 1 kilometer away from my house. I should take a picture of it.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago

People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs. - Banksy