Birmingham Moratorium

The Birmingham City Council will vote on a moratorium on all electronic signs, on Tuesday April 24. As you can see from my previous posts, digital signs (especially the huge Jumbotron billboards) can be serious driver distractions, as well as making a neighborhood look like Times Square or the Vegas Strip.

A lot of other cities have put moratoriums on digital boards until they can decide if they want these kinds of signs, and what restrictions to put on them. Atlanta and Tuscaloosa have moratoriums. The governor of Rhode Island has stopped all digital billboard permits until they can decide if they want any more.

The main issue is - who do we want making the decisions about giant TV screens looming above our highways? Do we want the sign companies deciding (which is what in effect is happening now) or do we want our elected officials (and that means we, the citizens) to decide? The first step is to not allow any more to go up while the people's elected representatives consider the situation.

Birmingham residents can attend the Council meeting, which starts at 9:30 a.m. at Birmingham City Hall on Tuesday. If you can't go, please email me or post a comment here, and I'll make sure the Council gets it.

Jumbotron TV Screens are not "signs"

"Digital billboards" are popping up all over and they are a real problem. Most everyone has probably seen one - they're like giant TV screens, the kinds you have in sports arenas. They are a real driving hazard, and certainly a lot more distracting that regular billboards which are bad enough.

It really irks me that the billboard companies are putting these things up without any kind of public safety study. It really doesn't take a study to know that it's hazardous to come around a curve on a dark night and have a giant glaring TV screen in your face (see my Vestavia Hills post), or go down a long straight road on a rainy night with a Jumbotron filling your entire field of vision (West Oxmoor Road in Homewood). But shouldn't they have to prove their product is safe before they just casually start plopping them in everywhere?

In December, Atlanta's mayor put in a moratorium on digital boards. Tuscaloosa has done the same thing. According to this news article, the federal highway administration has just now commissioned a study on video boards. We need to ask our city councils and county commissions to do the same thing. As drivers and citizens, we deserve to know that giant video boards are safe. It should not be up to the billboard company to decide.