Flashy billboards get mixed reviews

Richland County is considering allowing new signs

An electronic billboard displays its message near the intersection of Huger and Blossom streets in Columbia.
About 50 people showed up for a debate Thursday on the latest technology in billboards — screens that change messages every six seconds and stay lit 24 hours a day.
The forum featured dueling studies, statistics, psychology and a video of Interstate 26, doctored to demonstrate how it would look with a cascade of flashing signs.
While much of the talk was about the potential hazards for drivers, Columbia resident Basil Garzia wasn’t swayed by the data.
“It’s gaudy,” he said.
“And my gut says that there’s a safety issue, too.”
Already, billboard companies have been allowed to erect the electric signs in Columbia and Lexington County. Now, they are seeking permission to expand to unincorporated Richland County.
A public hearing has been set for 7 p.m. Sept. 25 by the County Council.
The tension is heightened for a couple of reasons:
• Richland County has banned new billboards since 2001. And while allowing digital billboards wouldn’t add new sites, it would extend the life of the signs.
County law is designed to phase out signs over time as they age.
Lamar Advertising’s Scott Shockley said the company has 180 billboards in the county.
• Lamar has put up five digital billboards along city streets in the past year, allowing people to judge for themselves whether they’re attractive or distracting.
Most who attended the forum, held at the library and sponsored by the Richland County Appearance Commission, seemed anti-billboard.
“It’s about high time for us to realize that we have a law on the books, and here come businesses that want to circumvent just because of new technology,” city resident Henry Hopkins said.
Added Virginia Washington, who lives in Lower Richland: “Having lived in New York City and having visited Times Square, it’s mind-boggling. So imagine that here in Columbia.”
John Hardee, a former state highway commissioner who works for Lamar Advertising, said he was surprised at the turnout.
“Shows to me there’s not a lot of concern,” he said.
A new traffic study done for the billboard industry shows the digital billboards don’t affect accident rates, said Michael W. Tantala, an engineer with a consulting firm in Philadelphia.
Jerry A. Wachtel, who has studied driver safety for 30 years, said the jury’s still out. But, digital billboards make drivers look away from the road for unsafe periods of time, he said.
Wachtel said driver distraction is the single greatest factor in car crashes.
Van Kornegay, with Citizens for Scenic South Carolina, said the issue is that billboards are the only advertising people simply can’t avoid.
“We cannot change the channel. We cannot turn the volume down. We cannot cancel our subscriptions. We have to watch.”

Source: The State --By DAWN HINSHAW