[Durham INC] Amber Alerts & electronic billboards a bad mix (news from Tennessee, Michigan & Missouri)

[John Schelp]

In a recent interview with the Triangle Tribune, a local billboard lobbyist said, "it's almost to a point of moral obligation" to support electronic billboards in Durham -- so industry can place Amber Alerts among bright, blinking ads for alcohol, cigarette outlets and gun shows.

Here's a reality check from Tennessee, Michigan and Missouri...

> Knoxville Police Dept: don't need billboards for Amber Alerts because Tennessee already has statewide alert system: Scenic Tennessee

When we were at that point with the City of Knoxville on whether to allow digital billboards, I talked to the PR person with the Knoxville Police Dept, and was advised that the KPD simply does not and does not need to use billboards for "amber alerts" because Tennessee has a statewide alert system that serves their purposes effectively.

[North Carolina also has the statewide alert system on our highways.]

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> Amber Alerts & electronic billboards are a bad mix: Scenic Missouri

1) The best scientific evidence, as thoroughly documented in the Wacthel report, tells us that digital billboards are a motorist distraction... it does not make sense to try and diminish one public safety problem (alerting the public) by introducing another problem (motorist distraction).

2) These silver/amber alerts are very emotional and require a lot of motorist attention for them to be of any use...

3) In so many places across the country, the introduction of digitals has caused significant negative impacts upon the quiet enjoyment of nearby residents.  That is why so many cities move to ban them once they have been introduced...  And the incredibly weak distance limits [in Durham] from residential, etc. are absurd.

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> Amber Alerts on electronic billboards a distraction: Scenic Michigan

The State has its own series of official Changeable Message Signs to perform this service. The State's signs are designed to provide the information necessary for motorists to react with the least possible distraction from their driving task, because they are designed in accordance with safe highway practices as mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In contrast, the AMBER Alerts displayed by the advertising industry have no official sanction, and often display useless and unnecessary information. As a result, rather than communicating an important message in a non-distracting way, they require the motorist to take his/her eyes off the road for extended periods to read the material on the sign.

In addition to causing traffic back-ups as drivers slow to read the signs, they increase the risk of driver error that can lead to crashes. Further, there is no evidence that any of these commercial billboards have ever led directly to the solving of an AMBER alert case. At a hearing in Lansing 2 weeks ago, [industry] was asked to provide evidence for any case in which such a billboard led to the solution of such a case. He has failed to do so.

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