Roadside advertising boards should be banned

Something that really has been irritating me for some time is the increasing number of large advertising boards on the side of the road, particularly free- ways.

I am talking about the really big ones that stand as high as a three of four storey building.

Some years ago I had a foreign visitor with me and as we drove from Pretoria to Johannesburg he remarked that something he really liked was how rapidly we emerged from the city and into countryside. He said that one then experienced that great feeling of openness that was so relaxing.

I also find that if I am looking at a scene that stretches on to a far horizon it seems tranquil. But if I am looking at buildings that are one or two hundred metres away then it gives me a feeling of pressure, or confinement, which is not relaxing.

Sadly, over the years the strip of land along the freeway from Pretoria to Johannesburg has become more and more built up, reducing that feeling of openness.

Just imagine if we had been able to get the Department of Environmental Affairs to buy 300m of land either side of the freeway all the way from Pretoria to Johannesburg and then to put wild animals in that strip.

Imagine driving along the road to find a giraffe peering at motorists from the road side. Such a strip of land would have become world famous. The closest one gets to this idea is the property of the SA Mint that has buck on its grounds. I have had startled visitors in my car, as we passed the Mint, saying: “Wow I just saw buck on the side of the road.” Yes, I understand the value of the land but still one can dream.

However, something really irritating is the horrible array of advertising boards. Bluntly, they all look lousy. Just the opposite of the dream of a giraffe in a 300 metre wide reserve area.

Not only do these boards look horrible, but to my mind, they are dangerous to traffic. The advertising boards are designed to attract a driver's attention. They are designed to make you look away from the road. Where are the road safety authorities. Where are the squeals about how many people could get killed because a driver looked at a large compelling advertisement, just as some other vehicle swung in front. Bang, crash, roll, smash…all because of some enticing invitation to go on holiday somewhere, or to drink somebody's wonderful drink.

With modern technology the boards become even more noticeable. They light up at night, so it is like looking at a movie screen on the side of the road.

To make matters worse many have movement built into them. The worst are those ones that are actually giant TV sets, in effect. There is one over the road, plumb in the middle, attached to a bridge on the M1 north in Johannesburg.

As one approaches these places, where traffic can grind to a standstill at rush hour, the screen flashes different advertisements, inducing me to look up at the bridge instead of at the traffic in front. I have many times found myself having to brake hard there because traffic can suddenly bank up at rush hour. Yes, the advertisers figure this is a great place because so many drivers will look at the screen. I wonder if anybody calculated how many deaths there will be per hundred thousand ‘views.'

There is a screen, just as bad, on the freeway coming east out of Pretoria. As one emerges from the edge of the city onto the freeway there is a TV-type screen right before a left curve that then immediately goes up over a blind rise bridge.

Of all the places to distract motorists with flashing TV type images…these types of advertising boards are designed to draw the attention of motorists. As such they are dangerous.

Imagine if a troupe of clowns decided to perform a promotional act on a traffic island on a freeway. The cops would soon stop them. The advertising boards have the same effect.

I think they are dangerous and unsightly and should be banned.

Dr Kemm's column Techtrack appears each week in Engineering News. Engineering News can be accessed at www.engineeringnews.co.za.