Oklahoma City Blog: Personal Injury

Although electronic billboards are more common in large cities such as Las Vegas and New York City, they've become more and more abundant throughout the United States. Currently, only about 2,000 of the nation’s 450,000 billboards are digitized, but this number will continue to grow in the coming years. Advertisers like them because they allow ads to circulate every six to eight seconds and can change advertisements according to timeliness and relevancy. Critics, however, are not impressed. Electronic billboards are just one more distraction to drivers, who already juggle with texting, iPods, and numerous other attention-getters while they should be focusing solely on the road.

 

Although there is little evidence to suggest that these billboards actually have an impact on driver safety, activists and highway safety experts are expressing concern, going so far as to dub electronic billboards as "weapons of mass distraction." States like Michigan and Minnesota are already reviewing legislation that would deter the construction of new billboards. The Federal Highway Administration is currently conducting a study of the dangers that digital billboards may pose, and should complete the study this summer.

Electronic billboards have been known to do good though. In September of 2009, a bank robbery suspect was captured in Missouri after the FBI turned to electronic billboards for help. The FBI posted surveillance photos from the robberies on electronic billboards, leading to the man's arrest only 24 hours after the photos had popped up on wall-size electronic highway signs in eight states. The FBI are currently using the same method in an attempt to find and capture the "Granddad Bandit," a man suspected in 18 robberies in 12 states, including Oklahoma.

Regardless of your stance on electronic billboards, if you have been injured in a car accident, please contact a personal injury lawyer at Atkins & Markoff today.

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