Company wants to convert billboards to digital
By Prentiss Findlay, The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC - 10/13/2008
They are colorful and eye-catching.
Some compare them to a roadside slide show with a message that changes every five to six seconds. Although advertisers embrace them, critics wonder if digital billboards are too much of a distraction for drivers.
Adams Outdoor Advertising, the company that introduced digital billboards to this area last year, wants to bring them to Mount Pleasant. That worries Mayor Pro-Tem Kruger Smith. A company billboard at the base of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge heading into town could be converted to digital.
"Digital signs are wonderful for the advertiser, but I don't think they are very safe for people driving on the Ravenel Bridge. I think that would lead to a lot of collisions," Smith said. "I don't think the digital billboards fit very well into Mount Pleasant," he said. Mount Pleasant town staff is drafting an ordinance that would govern digital billboards for Town Council consideration.
Adams Outdoor has eight digital billboards in North Charleston, Berkeley County and the Summerville area. North Charleston Police Chief John Zumalt said the Adams digital billboards are a valuable crime-fighting tool. Their message can be changed quickly from advertising to a fugitive alert. He praised Adams for its willingness to work with police. "I think it enhances public safety," he said.
For example, brothers Travis and Ricardo Richardson were wanted in connection with a slaying last November. Their pictures were put on a digital billboard, and they subsequently were arrested at a local hotel. "The brothers told investigators that they saw themselves on the billboard and were ready to turn themselves in," said Spencer Pryor, North Charleston Police Department director of public safety communications.
Some advertisers said they like the flexibility of the billboards because their message can be quickly changed. WCBD-TV creative services director Mark Bradley said the station can rotate its message daily to reflect news specials. Car dealers who use the billboards said they can be programmed in a timely way to reflect rebate and financing changes, he said.
There are about 30 digital billboards in the state, said Keith Melvin, the state Department of Transportation director of outdoor advertising. "It's very new. They're very expensive," Melvin said.
The DOT evaluated highway safety concerns related to three digital billboards in the Columbia area. It compared the number of vehicle crashes for six months after installation of the digital billboards with the occurrence of wrecks for the same time period from the previous year.
"The attached study based on the period of review does not highlight a problem with the digital billboards," Dipak M. Patel, deputy state highway engineer, said in a Sept. 6, 2007, letter to officials at Lamar Outdoor Advertising.
Adams Outdoor Advertising General Manager Jon Kane said the company has five billboards in Mount Pleasant that could be converted to the new technology if the town says OK. The first digital billboard in this area went up in March of last year. "Clients seem to love it. It's got the flexibility to change the message as fast as they would like," Kane said.
The Federal Highway Administration leaves the regulation of digital billboards up to the states. A federally sponsored "distraction study" intended to gauge whether digital billboards affect driving safety is under way. It is expected to be completed next year, said public affairs specialist Doug Hecox.
"It's a question of whether we are staring at it (digital billboard) for too long. And nobody knows," Hecox said.
Reach Prentiss Findlay at pfindlay@postandcourier.com.
