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Thursday, August 02, 2007
Law - "High-tech billboards targeted: Kentucky officials want them gone"
Tony Lang reports today in a lengthy story in the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Kentucky's Transportation Cabinet has told outdoor advertising companies operating in Northern Kentucky that the digital boards should be torn down, turned off or converted back to static displays. No state law specifically permits electronic billboards, and their changing messages may violate other state and federal highway rules, the cabinet says.What about Indiana? It turns out we passed a law allowing such billboards this year. Here is a story by Patrick Guiane of the NWI Times dated Feb. 13, 2007. It reports:Meanwhile, today, the Kenton County Planning Commission is to consider a ban on any more high-tech signs at least through Dec. 31, when a consultant can recommend new sign regulations.
Twelve electronic billboards have been planted in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky along Interstates 75, 71, 275 and 471. At night, they're often the brightest objects in the landscape.
Some motorists love the sharp color and rotating ads. Critics say they're a neighborhood nuisance and perhaps unsafe. * * *
Ohio permits the digital signs, provided each commercial message remains fixed for at least 8 seconds, and that the sign itself is at least 1,000 feet from another multiple-message board.
Some 156 electronic displays already line the state's interstates and highways, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. Another 13 are in the pipeline.
That ranks Ohio among the leading electronic-billboard states. Nationwide, they total 500 plus. Several hundred more are expected to be added each year.
Three outdoor advertising giants - Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor and Lamar - control about 75 percent of the U.S. market.
A House panel granted initial approval Tuesday to moving interstate billboards into the digital age.HEA 1373 took effect 4/25/07. Note the potentially interesting language the new IC 8-23-20-25.5(d), added on p. 4 of the bill.Sponsored by state Rep. Dan Stevenson, D-Highland, House Bill 1373 would have Indiana join the majority of states that permit electronic billboards. It passed the Indiana House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee 12-0.
Electronic billboards can be used for weather and disaster bulletins, which Stevenson said "really would have been helpful (Tuesday during the heavy snows)." The displays, which morph to a different advertisement every several seconds, also are used to display missing persons information in other states.
"I think there's a few spots around Lake County that would definitely be appropriate for a digital sign and would be attractive to advertisers," said Jon Terpstra, vice president and general manager for Lamar Advertising, which owns billboards along the Borman Expressway, the Indiana Toll Road and Interstate 65.
Of the 46 states that allow any billboards, 42 already permit digital displays, Terpstra said. Another industry representative said the displays change every six to eight seconds and advertisers aren't allowed to use videos or flashing images that might distract drivers. HB 1373 now goes to the full House.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 2, 2007 08:39 AM
Posted to General Law Related