The effect of dwell time, location and content on the distraction impact of digital billboards

An experiment was conducted utilizing an advanced driving simulator to investigate the effect of three variables on driving performance:
• Dwell time (20, 40 and 60 seconds)
• Location (verge versus overhead gantry)
• Content (complex versus simple)
In general, only the 60 second dwell time did not have a negative impact on driver performance. However, the results also demonstrated a number of complex interactions that can be used to assess the relative safety of existing digital billboard installations and proposals for the installation of new digital billboards.