New Sign Safety Research Impacts Digital On-Premise Signs
New research on the safety of digital billboards and EMCs will affect sign manufacturers. The effectiveness of reflective sheeting on highway signs, an improved methodology for increasing the efficiency of right-of-way appraisal and acquisition, and an analysis of anchor bolt failures on Virginia traffic structures were among the topics presented at a recent transportation conference.
Directly affecting the sign industry was research presented by Texas A&M Professor Gene Hawkins. His recent statistical analysis of the safety impacts of digital on-premise signs found no statistically significant impact between the installation of digital signs and a change in nearby vehicle crashes. Other research included updates on efforts to evaluate road safety impacts from digital signs in Canada and a study of past anchor bolt failures on sign structures maintained by the Virginia DOT.
This research was presented at the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) annual meeting which convenes transportation researchers, academics and policy makers and fore presentations and sessions addressing topics of interest covering all transportation modes.
The research generated at the TRB meetings is significant to the sign industry and is hugely influential in establishing the next generation of regulations that govern highway sign placement, materials specifications, and the restrictions on any outside structures that might impact the safety of drivers. The information presented often leads to federal rules and recommendations that are adopted by state DOTs. Participation in TRB allows ISA to know about new research and policy ideas years before they are implemented and, occasionally, to intervene in hopes of affecting newly proposed rules.
ISA has been involved and monitoring the TRB for sign companies as part of its government affairs activities to ensure the sign and visual communications industry’s voice is heard. For more information, contact ISA’s Kenny Peskin (@signcodeguy).
