Billboards Contributing to Car Accidents

We live in a capitalist world where we are bombarded with advertising everywhere we turn. When we walk down the street, turn our television on or drive our cars, loud, distracting adverts are placed before us. And these adverts could be costing lives.

A recent survey has revealed that thirty per cent of drivers in the UK say they have been distracted by an advertisement while driving. With inattentive drivers the main cause of car accidents today, any further distractions are a serious problem.

Another study has found that when we are driving our cars, our eyes are on roadside signs up to fifty per cent of the time. This is indeed a worrying figure.

Drivers are not only distracted by advertisements, but also by the huge number of signs intended to assist drivers. Bombarded with diagrams of confusing roundabouts, placed next to signs for tourist attractions and speed limits, it is easy to take your eyes off the road for a significant amount of time.

Particularly dangerous are adverts showing pictures of models in sexy lingerie. The infamous Wonderbra advert posted around Britain in the ‘90s depicting model Eva Herzigova in her underwear is reputed to have been the cause of many car accidents.

When you consider that a driver travelling at 60 miles per hour covers the equivalent to the length of a football pitch in just 5 seconds, these distractions are highly dangerous.

With all the evidence showing how advertising and poor signposting can lead to accidents, companies who place attention grabbing adverts in busy areas could be held to blame for some of the accidents on our roads. There have been suggestions that personal injury claims could be brought against the advertisers putting these signs in distracting places while fully aware that they will take drivers attentions away from the road.