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distraction issues. Electronic billboards were identified as one of six noted sources of <br />distraction. <br />Parliament of Victoria, Australia, Report of the Road Safety Committee on the <br />Inquiry into Driver Distraction (2Q06)14 <br />This report identified road signs and advertising as one of the largest sources of dri~~er <br />distraction.. At least three billboards near Melbourne, Australia display moving images. <br />"Tlae Comn~.ittee considers these sc~"eens to be at the high <br />end of potential vr'sual distraction anal accordi»gly, present <br />a ~"isk to drivers. " <br />The study also included a quote from the Maa~ager of the Road User Behaviour group at <br />VicRoads (the State's road and traffic authority) from. a December 2005 hearing: <br />l~hat ~1%e do kaaow is ~1~hen there is n~.ovenzent involved, such. <br />as flicker oT• n7.ovenzelzt i~a tlse visual periphery, that this is <br />~no~"e likely to capture a driver's.attenti.on. T~Te actually a.~"e <br />har"a'-1N17"ed as hui~zan beings to n~over~~.ent, .so particularly <br />777•oVing sCl"eelZS .anal info"»aation. that scrolls at <br />i~atersections and in highly complex driving situations - <br />these are risky, and in. particular ~"esearcl~.ers have been. <br />n7ost concerned about t1~.ose sort of advertisi~?g materials. <br />This opuiion «~ouId suggest that electronic signs can present a distraction to drivers. <br />3.4 How Much Distraction Is a Problem? <br />A number of studies «~ere identified that discussed concenis with driver distraction generally. It <br />should be noted that some of the studies cited use specific. crash data that is ten or more years <br />old. Direct comparison of distraction sources to influences of today may not be completely valid <br />due to increased technological sophistication d'~f distracting u~.fluences. These could include hl- <br />vehicle teclulology (e.g.; navigation systems; MP3 players; DVD players, CD players, computer <br />systems, etc.) as well as other potentially distractng influences (e.g., cell phones, text messaging, <br />dynamic signage, other road«~ay elements, etch.) that were not commonplace «~hen the data for <br />these studies «~as collected: <br />Australian Road Research Baird <br />Investigations of Distraction by irrel vanf Information (Johnston 8~ Gore, 1976)'$ <br />This research used five experiments to test uThether drivers could maintain eff cieirt <br />perfornance iii their driving tasks «%hile being subjected to content that vas infonn.ation <br />rich; but u-relevant to driving. The findings ~~,~ere that a small; but statistically sig~iificant <br />amount of performance degradation was observed when the participant ~~~as under a <br />critical load of stimuli. I <br />i <br />~, ~ <br />-221- <br />