Driven to distraction: the effects of roadside advertising on driver attention

Young, Mark S. and Mahfoud, Janina M. (2007) Driven to distraction: the effects of roadside advertising on driver attention. Bust, Philip D. (ed.) In Contemporary Ergonomics 2007: Proceedings of the International Conference on Contemporary Ergonomics (CE2007). Routledge. pp. 145-150 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

There is growing concern that roadside advertising presents a real risk to driving safety, with conservative estimates putting external distractors responsible for up to 10% of all accidents. In this paper, we present a simulator study quantifying the effects of billboards on driver attention, mental workload and performance in Urban, Motorway and Rural environments. The results demonstrate that roadside advertising has a clear detrimental effect on lateral control, increases mental workload, and on some roads can draw attention away from more relevant road signage. Detailed analysis of the data suggests that the effects of billboards may in fact be more consequential in scenarios which are monotonous or of lower workload. Nevertheless, the overriding conclusion is that prudence should be exercised when authorising or placing roadside advertising. The findings are discussed with respect to governmental policy and guidelines.

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