Jumbotron TV Screens are not "signs"

"Digital billboards" are popping up all over and they are a real problem. Most everyone has probably seen one - they're like giant TV screens, the kinds you have in sports arenas. They are a real driving hazard, and certainly a lot more distracting that regular billboards which are bad enough.

It really irks me that the billboard companies are putting these things up without any kind of public safety study. It really doesn't take a study to know that it's hazardous to come around a curve on a dark night and have a giant glaring TV screen in your face (see my Vestavia Hills post), or go down a long straight road on a rainy night with a Jumbotron filling your entire field of vision (West Oxmoor Road in Homewood). But shouldn't they have to prove their product is safe before they just casually start plopping them in everywhere?

In December, Atlanta's mayor put in a moratorium on digital boards. Tuscaloosa has done the same thing. According to this news article, the federal highway administration has just now commissioned a study on video boards. We need to ask our city councils and county commissions to do the same thing. As drivers and citizens, we deserve to know that giant video boards are safe. It should not be up to the billboard company to decide.