By Danielle Veldre
Regulation
CHAIRMAN of the Pedestrian Council of Australia Harold Scruby has called for a ban on new forms of scrolling outdoor advertising, saying the new ads are sure to cause a death - there’s no doubt about it.
Scruby has written to Sydney’s Lord Mayor Frank Sartor demanding that new street furniture erected by outdoor company JC Decaux in the Sydney CBD featuring scrolling ads be banned because they are dangerously distracting.
JC Decaux has announced they will be converting their static billboards to scrolling billboards, Scruby said. Apart from many of these billboards already being positioned in extremely dangerous locations at pedestrian crossings and too close to
kerbs...they will now also divert motorists’ attention by scrolling.
Scruby said the new street furniture’s very effectiveness would contribute to further pedestrian accidents. JC Decaux is quoting statistics that two thirds of people look at scrolling billboards.
We’ll be campaigning until they are removed, Scruby said.
The following are excerpts from a second article...
Scruby says the very effectiveness of the billboards illustrates their potential to distract drivers and kill pedestrians.
"I've never seen anything so dangerous," he says of the positioning of some of the billboards near traffic lights. “Do you have to be Einstein to believe it will cause an accident?"
A spokesperson for the Outdoor Advertising Association told B&T that research into the safety of outdoor advertising it had commissioned in the past showed "no nexus between road accidents and [outdoor ads]".
The only reason they are having
this debate is because...
Scrolling Motion Displays Are Incredibly
Effective In Attracting People's Attention!
|
