Earlier this month, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America released a study they commissioned from Tantala Associates which concluded that digital billboards do not affect traffic safety.  The research spanned eight years and nearly 35,000 accidents in Reading, PA where over 230 million cars pass these billboards each year.

According to the report, “The overall conclusion of the study is that digital billboards in the greater Reading area have no statistically significant relationship with the occurrence of accidents.”

Had the conclusions been different, we might never have seen this research (or this press release) but as it stands, it corroborates similar studies in Cleveland, Rochester, and Albuquerque.  All of which bodes well for the industry given that digital billboards are brighter, easier to update, and more profitable since they can carry multiple messages from multiple advertisers.  And all sarcasm aside, I truly believe this shiny update of a classic format improves the quality of advertising without causing any traffic problems.  In fact, given how eye-catching these can be, they would actually make traffic safer…

–because when they’re looking at this cool billboard, drivers would have to stop texting.

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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