Advertisment Space 4 PDF
Advertisment Space 4 PDF
Advertisment Space 4 PDF
The impact of the luminance, size and location of LED billboards on drivers’
visual performance—Laboratory tests
Malgorzata Zalesinska
Poznan University of Technology, Division of Lighting and Electro Heating Engineering, 5 M. Sklodowska-Curie Square, 60-965 Poznan, Poland
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: A proper visual performance by drivers can be ensured by, among else, a correct distribution of luminance in
LED billboards their field of view. At night, when the driver’s sight is adapted to low luminance levels, high luminance level
Billboard recommendations objects located near the road may be a source of glare, which is not only a nuisance, but it may also blind the
Driver’s visual performance driver. For many years, LED billboards (light-emitting diode billboards) have been installed near roads. Such
Driving simulator
billboards are usually large, have high luminance and show dynamically changing images. These parameters
Road safety
have a significant impact on the drivers’ visual performance and, in turn, on road traffic safety.
The study on the impact of the luminance, size and location of LED billboards on the drivers' visual perfor-
mance was conducted on a volunteer group. Testing the impact of LED billboards on the visual performance of
drivers in real-life conditions is very difficult. Therefore, the tests have been conducted in laboratory conditions,
using a car driving simulator. The paper describes the testing procedure and tests results. The permissible lu-
minance and areas of LED screens in two locations near the road, which significantly reduce the drivers’ visual
performance in municipal traffic at night, were determined by conducting an analysis of the results.
Recommendations on the permissible luminance and areas of LED billboards were formulated.
1. Introduction for billboards illuminated externally was 7 cd/m2 – 67 cd/m2 and bill-
boards illuminated from the inside - 106 cd/m2 – 360 cd/m2 (Zalesinska
The application of light emitting diodes (LED) in outdoor adver- and Wandachowicz, 2013)), such objects are a potential source of
tising opened new possibilities in presenting all sorts of advertising blinding glare, making it impossible to see and, in the best case, limiting
content. Such advertising devices could be used to display text, graphic the ability to see – disability glare. Additionally, involuntarily directing
images, animations and video. A dozen of advertisements, arranged in a sight at very bright objects diverts it from the road (“the moth effect”
sequence and clearly visible, both during the day and at night, could be Green, 2006). Tests carried out by Klauer et al. (2006) showed that
presented on just one LED screen. However, everything that makes this distracting a driver's attention from the road for over 2 s is a potential
advertising medium highly attractive may be, on many occasions, a threat to road traffic safety.
potential danger to road traffic safety. LED billboards have large areas Moreover, LED billboards displaying animations, video images and
and are very bright - much brighter than traditional billboards. The quickly alternating advertisements can potentially distract drivers, and
maximal luminance values specified by LED screen manufactures by displaying content that resembles traffic signs or colours used in
(white) are around 7000 cd/m2. Tests conducted in the laboratory traffic lights, they may mislead drivers, potentially leading to dan-
showed that the maximal value of an actual, real LED module was gerous situations in road traffic (Roberts et al., 2013; Wachtel, 2009).
8.300 cd/m2 (Zalesinska and Wandachowicz, 2012)
The research conducted by Domke et al. (2010) shows that the 2. Current knowledge
average value of maximum luminance measured for 18 screens oper-
ating at night in real conditions was 1980 cd/m2 for advertising content 2.1. Review of the research on the impact of LED billboards on road traffic
using various colours. Given such high luminance levels in comparison safety
to the low luminance in the billboard's vicinity (several or a dozen cd/
m2 - e.g. the measured values for the background were 108 cd/m2 – Tests aiming to determine the relation between the increase of car
0.9 cd/m2, sky – 6.3 cd/m2 0.2 cd/m2, road 4.6 cd/m2 –1.1 cd/m2) and accidents and the possible presence of LED billboards near such places
a much lower luminance of traditional billboards (e.g. measured value have been carried out for many years. Due to the complexity of this
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2018.02.005
Received 2 October 2017; Received in revised form 4 February 2018; Accepted 5 February 2018
0001-4575/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Zalesinska, M., Accident Analysis and Prevention (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2018.02.005
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
phenomenon, it is very difficult to determine such a relation. of luminance differ significantly for those two states. Three zones were
Oftentimes, drivers themselves are not aware of all the factors that introduced in Queensland (Roberts et al., 2013): high level of lighting,
played a role in the accident or, fearing a fine or having to pay in- e.g. town centres - max. 500 cd/m2; average level of lighting, e.g.
creased insurance premiums, fail to admit, on purpose, that the acci- suburban industrial zones, parking lots – max. 350 cd/m2; and low level
dent was caused because they were distracted by a billboard (Speirs of lighting, e.g. residential areas – max. 300 cd/m2. Four zones were
et al., 2008). The published research results are also not unanimous. introduced in New South Wales (Roberts et al., 2013): high level of
Tests carried out by Tantala and Tantala (2009, 2010) showed that the lighting, e.g. town centres - unlimited; average level of lighting, e.g.
number of accidents dropped by several or even a dozen percent after a suburban industrial zones, parking lots – max. 1.200 cd/m2; low level of
billboard was installed in the vicinity of the road. However, tests car- lighting, e.g. small, isolated shopping centres – max. 300 cd/m2; and
ried at the order of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation areas lacking external lighting, e.g. rural areas 400 cd/m2. In South
(WisDOT, 1994) for ads with a variable message sign showed that, after Africa (SANRAL, 2000), the permissible luminance depends on the
the installation of billboards in the drivers’ field of view, the number of billboard's size. The following permissible luminance values were used:
accidents spiked by a few dozen percent. Similar tests carried out for 1000 cd/m2 for billboards whose area is below 0.5 m2; 800 cd/m2 for
ads displaying video images showed an increase in the number of ac- 0.5–2.0 m2; 600 cd/m2 for 2.0–10.0 m2; 350 cd/m2 - above 10.0 m2
cidents in 2 out of 3 examined intersections (Smiley et al., 2005). De- (within the road lane); and 400 cd/m2 above 10.0 m2 (outside the road
spite the lack of documentation explicitly proving the influence of LED lane). In Poland, there are also plans to limit the luminance of adver-
billboards on the higher number of road accidents, numerous tests tising billboards in developed areas to 4000 cd/m2 in the daytime and
confirm that electronic billboards negatively affect the drivers’ visual 400 cd/m2 at night, and in undeveloped areas to 4000 cd/m2 in the
conditions. Attracting the drivers’ attention and distracting them are daytime and to 300 cd/m2 at night (Draft Regulation, 2016)
usually considered as the major factors (Belyusar et al. 2016, Dukic
et al., 2013; Molino et al., 2009, Speirs et al., 2008, Dudek, 2.2.2. Permissible area and location of billboards
2008;Crudall et al., 2006,Farbry et al., 2001). Nonetheless, some re- The maximal permissible advertising areas usually depend on the
ferences report test results showing a negative impact of the colour and state (or local) legal regulations and range from a few to several tens of
content of the displayed ads (Speirs et al., 2008). square meters. For example, in Tasmania (Roberts et al., 2013), the
The negative impact of LED billboards on the drivers' visual con- maximal advertising surface is 3 m2; in New Zealand (Roberts et al.,
ditions was confirmed by surveys carried out by Domke et al. (2013). 2013), the maximal size is 3 m high and 6 m wide; in Queensland
One hundred and twelve drivers of different ages participated in the (Roberts et al., 2013), Australia – 43 m2; in San Antonio, Texas – 62 m2
study. The participants of the survey were asked about their attention (Ord. No. 2017-05-04-0297, 2017). With regard to the permissible lo-
being drawn to LED billboards. Ninety respondents, i.e. 80%, answered cation requirements, it is often stipulated that a billboard may not limit
affirmatively to the question. Another question was: Do LED billboards visibility and endanger road traffic. Billboards should not be installed in
distract you, as a driver, when you are driving? Most of the re- places where drivers are required to pay special attention (e.g. near
spondents, namely 69 people (62%), confirmed the negative impact of pedestrian crossings). Still, some regulations precisely specify permis-
LED billboards on the visual conditions. The most commonly cited sible location zones for billboards. For example, in South Africa
factor was the excessive brightness of the areas of billboards, followed (SANRAL, 2000), billboards should be installed over 50 m away from
by excessively bright colours and rapidly changing images. intersections where the speed limit is below 60 km/h, 100 m where the
speed is limited to 60 km/h, and 200 m where the speed limit is over
2.2. Review of the requirements with regard to LED billboards 100 km/h. In New South Wales (Roberts et al., 2013), Australia, the
minimal distance from a billboard to the zone where traffic changes
In some countries where problems with very bright LED billboards direction, to traffic signs or exits should be 10 m in cities, 15 m outside
have emerged, e.g. USA, Australia, South Africa, Holland and Poland, cities and 15 m on highways. In Holland (Daluge et al., 2011), bill-
attempts have been made to limit the negative impact of LED billboards boards must not be placed closer than 13 m from the road and 200 m
on the safety of road traffic by issuing relevant legal regulations. These from the place where the road begins to curve; moreover, billboards
regulations often differ from each other significantly and only apply to cannot be placed in front of or behind road traffic signs or other traffic
factors affecting distraction, such as displaying moving images, control devices. In Poland (Arc of 21 March 1985), placing billboards
minimum dwell times, visual effects and the interval between con- near roads is subject to the road category and the land it crosses. In
secutive images. Parameters, such as the luminance of the displayed developed areas, the minimal distance is 6 m for local roads, 8 m for
images, their size and location in relation to the road, which may have district and regional roads, and 10 m for national roads. Outside de-
an additional impact on the glare of drivers, are rarely taken into ac- veloped areas, the distances are 15 m, 20 m and 25 m, respectively.
count. The requirements in force in selected countries, related to the
permissible luminance, size and locations of advertising devices, are 3. Objective of research
presented below.
The problem of unpleasant and distracting glare has been known for
2.2.1. Permissible luminance of large billboards a long time. As new technologies are being developed, e.g. CCD matrix
Usually, limiting the luminance of billboards during the day is not (Charge-Coupled Device matrix), eye trackers or driving simulators,
necessary, but such a limitation should be unquestionably introduced at numerous research projects are under way, aiming to create newer
night. Unfortunately, legal regulations rarely provide for such re- methods of measuring and evaluating the impact of glare on visual
quirements. If, however, the maximal luminance values are taken into performance (Porsch et al., 2014, Blaszczyk, 2013; Van den Berg et al.,
account, the applied values vary a lot. For example: 2009; Rob, 2007). Although recommendations and methods of evalu-
In the New York State in America (NYSDOT, 2008), the maximal ating glare caused by luminaires are known, there are no specific re-
luminance is specified at 5000 cd/m2 for daytime and 280 cd/m2 for the quirements and recommendations for large LED billboards, especially
night. In San Antonio, Texas, a luminance of 7000 cd/m2 is permitted with regard to their photometric and geometric properties. Therefore, a
during daytime and 2.500 cd/m2 at night (Ord. No. 2017-05-04-0297, research project has been commenced to determine the impact of LED
2017) The regulations, however, fail to specify the required lighting billboards on the drivers’ visual performance. In several studies, a lu-
conditions in the billboard's vicinity. In Queensland and New South minance was recommended, which does not reduce the drivers' visual
Wales, Australia, a limitation of billboard luminance was introduced in performance in urban traffic. However, the cumulative impact of the
relation to the surrounding level of lighting. Still, the permissible values luminance, size and the location of the billboard on the drivers' visual
2
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
performance was not analysed. The objective of the research discussed on the road without much problem. Although each of the obstacles used
here by the author is to determine the maximal permissible luminance was of a different type, during the calibration of the simulator
and area for an LED billboard that does not pose a significant threat to (Zalesinska, 2014, Zalesinska and Domke, 2014), there were no sig-
urban road traffic safety in relation to two locations of the billboard in nificant differences in the reaction times of the drivers to the sudden
the driver’s field of vision. appearance of these objects on the road. The appearance of the ob-
stacles is shown in Fig. 7.
4. Research method
5. Laboratory test
Visual performance is the performance of the human visual system
measured with, for example, the speed and accuracy of performing a 5.1. Preparation of the experiment
visual task. The drivers’ visual performance may be evaluated on the
basis of: the distance at which objects on the road can be perceived The evaluation of the impact of an LED billboard on the drivers’
under given lighting conditions; the speed at which an object on the visual performance was carried out for 4 sizes of displayed advertise-
road is detected; revealing power, which is the percentage of objects ments - 100% (1.54 m × 1.15 m), 50% (1.15 m × 0.77 m), 25%
detectable at each point on the road in the case of a given lighting (0.77 m × 0.58 m) and 12.5% (0.58 m × 0.38 m) of the entire area of
installation; as well as noticing relative movement, e.g. noticing the billboard in the test bed (Fig. 8.); at three levels of luminance -
changes in the angular dimensions of the rear of the preceding car (Van 200 cd/m2, 400 cd/m2, 800 cd/m2; and two locations of the device in
Bommel, 2014; Van Bommel and De Boer, 1984). relation to the road; two angles between the centre of the LED screen;
In the following research, the drivers’ visual performance was and the main axis of the road was 33° and 44°, respectively. The 44°
evaluated on the basis of the drivers’ reaction time to simulated, po- angle is the highest value that can be achieved on the test bed, whereas
tentially dangerous, road incidents. A sudden appearance of an obstacle 33° results from the minimal distance at which the billboard does not
(a human, a dog or a ball) on the road was such a situation. obstruct the view of the sidewalk on the displayed simulation.
A car driving simulator built in the laboratory during the past re- Based on the results of pilot studies (Zalesinska, 2015a, 2015b), it
search project was used for such an experiment. The major components was decided that the analysis of the impact of the advertising space
of the simulator included: the vehicle’s cabin, the display system, the occupying 100% of the LED screen for an angle of 33° relative to the
screen and the control system. While driving, the simulation image was main road axis was omitted during the research. The results of the pilot
displayed on a 5.3 m × 2.9 m screen. Additionally, a real LED billboard studies showed that the average reaction time of drivers in this case was
module - 1.54 m × 1.15 m - was placed in the laboratory test bed. In the definitely longer than in other cases. Since the aim of the above ex-
laboratory test bed geometry, the module used corresponded to a bill- periment was to set the maximum permissible parameters, which do not
board of a maximum size of around 30 m2, operating in real conditions. significantly affect the visual performance of the drivers, the worst case
In the lab, the effect of expanding advertising was simulated by in- had already been eliminated at the outset. In this way, the number of
creasing the image displayed on the LED screen with speed, depending volunteers and the time needed for testing was reduced. Finally, with
on the virtual speed of the car. the billboard placed at an angle of 44° in relation to the road, tests were
A drawing of the lab setup is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The appearance carried out for all 4 sizes – 100%, 50%, 25% and 12.5% - and all lu-
of the driving simulator is shown in Fig. 3 and the cabin’s interior is minance (0 cd/m2, 200 cd/m2, 400 cd/m2, 800 cd/m2) levels of adver-
shown in Fig. 4. tisements. For the angle of 33°, only the impacts of three sizes of
The calibration of the image of the displayed road and its immediate commercials - 50%, 25% and 12.5% - and luminance levels, were
vicinity, with regard to the distribution of luminance, was done on the analysed. A total of 21 different cases were analysed. All the analysed
basis of research carried out by Zalesinska and Wandachowicz (2013). cases related to changes in the luminance, LED screen location and the
This allowed to achieve visual conditions similar to those found on a size of the image displayed on the LED screen are shown in Fig. 9. The
city road at night (Zalesinska and Wandachowicz, 2014). According to drivers’ reaction times related to the sudden appearance of an obstacle
the selection of lighting classes (CEN/TR 13201:2014-1) for urban on the road with non-illuminated advertising (L = 0 cd/m2) were al-
traffic, the M2 lighting class was adopted. The projected luminance of ways treated as reference points in the assessment of the impact of the
the road was 1.5 cd/m2. The simulator's software allowed to create examined parameters on visual performance; therefore, they were not
various routes through the virtual city. An example of the image dis- treated as another analysed case.
played during the simulation is shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 6 shows an ex- The distance from the surface of the screen to the observer was
ample of the luminance distribution on the projected image. practically constant in the laboratory test bed. In reality, the billboards
Logitech racing wheel drivers with software, which cooperated with are placed at various distances from the road. Solid angles in the ster-
the simulator software, were used to simulate the car drive through a adian, and additionally horizontal and vertical angles in degrees at
virtual city (making turns, speeding, braking, etc.). During the study, which the displayed advertisements are visible, were calculated in
the total reaction time (notice time, decision time and decision execu- order to relate the size of the billboard with the distance from the ob-
tion time) was measured from the time that the obstacle was generated server. For an advertisement occupying 100% of the screen, the solid
on the road until there was a feedback signal from the racing wheel angle was 0.08 sr, the horizontal angle was 18.2° and the vertical angle
caused by turning the wheel and braking, or no reaction and collision was 13.0°, for 50% accordingly: 0.04 sr, 13.6°, 8.7°, for 25%: 0.02 sr,
with the obstacle. The control system in the PC recorded the drivers’ 9.1°, 6.5°, and for 12.5%: 0.01 sr, 6.9°, 4.3°.
times of reaction to road incidents. The precision of the drivers’ reaction All advertisement sizes were displayed on the same device.
time measurement was 10 ms. Therefore, with the advertising surfaces occupying less than 100% of
During the tests, a human, a dog and a ball served as obstacles on the screen, in each case, there was a dark area of the turned-off part of
the road forcing drivers to perform a braking manoeuvre or pass the the device appearing around the bright image. The dark area sur-
object. The luminance and size of the obstacles guaranteed that they rounding the bright advertisement increased its contrast together with
would be noticeable during normal driving (without illuminated ad- its immediate surroundings and thus created less favourable conditions
vertising on the roadside). The colouring of the human's clothing was for the drivers. Nevertheless, the results obtained under these condi-
changed at random, while the colour of the dog and the colours of the tions provide a better basis for determining the minimum luminous
ball remained the same each time. The luminance of obstacles and, surface area from the point of view of the impact on road safety.
above all, the contrast of the luminosity of the obstacle with the road, as The drivers’ task during the experiment was to cover a specific
well as their size, were large enough to allow these objects to be noticed section of road through a virtual city in conformance with road traffic
3
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
regulations. The driver was obliged to drive at a speed of no more than with a specific luminance and area as well as a non-illuminated LED
50 km/h. At this speed, the stopping distance is about 34 m (Lozia and screen (L = 0 cd/m2).
Wolinski, 2010), and this was also the virtual distance of the obstacle in In order to reduce the measurement uncertainty, ten obstacles were
front of the car. However, if the driver drove faster, for example, placed on each route, for which the driver’s reaction time was con-
90 km/h, the obstacle appeared at a distance of about 84 m in front of sidered, and six obstacles whose purpose was to distract the driver were
the car and, if slower, e.g. 20 km/h - at a distance of about 10 m. not taken into account when analysing the results.
The visual performance was assessed on the basis of the observer's In the beginning, each observer was informed about the objective
reaction time to the emergence of an obstacle on the road in a situation and method of conducting the experiment. Then, the test route was
where there was an illuminated LED screen on the shoulder of the road taken, followed by the main routes. Each observer had to cover five
4
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
several-minute routes. The practice route was only with obstacles and
there were three routes with illuminated billboards. A total number of 5
routes was established during the calibration of the test stand
Fig. 3. The driving simulator built at the laboratory.
(Zalesinska and Domke 2014, Zalesinska 2014) as being optimal both in
terms of maintaining the well-being of the drivers (lack of fatigue and
tiredness during the experiment) and in organisational terms, as it was
possible to obtain partial reaction times for 3 analysed cases at the same
time (variables: luminance, size, position).
To eliminate the impact of the order of routes on the results of the
measurement, the test participants drove along the proper routes in a
different order each time. In order to minimise the impact of additional
factors, such as accidental braking and looking at the speedometer
while an obstacle appeared on the road, times that excessively differed
from the average were eliminated. The selection of results was done on
the basis of the average reaction time of a given observer to the ap-
pearance of an obstacle with the billboard's luminance at zero. It was
assumed that further analysis would only use results whose maximal
difference in relation to the average reaction time did not exceed 1.96 -
the value of standard deviation of a given observer. Therefore, the
application of a standard deviation expansion factor of 1.96 means a
significance level of α = 0.05.
5
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Fig. 8. An example of an advertisement with 100% and 25% of the area of the LED screen.
The average age of the tested individuals was 23.1 (SD = 0.9 year).
All test subjects were holders of passenger car driving licenses. Most of
them had a driving license for 3 or 4 years and declared good passenger
car driving skills. Moreover, most of the test participants declared that
they drive in a city at least several times a week, for a total of at least
1 h.
The study on the impact of the area and luminance of an LED screen
on the drivers' visual performance was conducted according to the
previously described procedure.
The obtained partial results (for “N” results in each case) were used
Fig. 9. A list of cases analysed during the research. to determine the average reaction times (tav) for the tested group of
observers. The standard deviation (SD) and confidence interval (CI)
were calculated for a significance level of α = 0.05. The determined
people. Three cases that differed in the luminance of advertisements
parameters are shown in Table 1.
displayed on the LED screen, the size of the advertisements and the
A graphical interpretation of the relation of the observers' reaction
location of the LED screen in the driver's field of view, were analysed
times to the level of luminance of an LED billboard for the examined
within each group. Thus, each average reaction time was determined on
areas of advertisements displayed on the screen and the assumed lo-
the basis of the rides of 25 people with 10 obstacles on each route,
cation of the screen in relation to the road is shown in Fig. 10.
which were subject to further evaluation, giving 226–242 results in
The research on the influence of the luminance and size of adver-
each case.
tisements displayed on a LED billboard as well as the impact of the
6
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Table 1
Results of the measurement of the average reaction times of observers to the appearance of an obstacle on the road, along with the basic experiment’s descriptive statistics.
Billboard's luminance Analysed parameter Angle locations of the device in relation to the road
33° 44°
2
0 cd/m tav [ms] 769 754 758 762 769 749 757
SD [ms] 57 71 102 91 69 75 88
CI [ms] 769 ±7 754 ±9 758 ± 13 762 ± 12 769 ±9 749 ±9 757 ± 11
N [pcs.] 226 228 227 234 235 238 238
200 cd/m2 tav [ms] 783 837 853 757 807 818 830
SD [ms] 78 67 84 87 103 92 82
CI [ms] 783 ± 10 837 ±8 853 ± 11 757 ± 11 807 ± 13 818 ± 12 830 ± 10
N [pcs.] 227 240 235 236 236 240 242
2
400 cd/m tav [ms] 795 852 869 763 811 820 842
SD [ms] 87 81 73 89 98 101 103
CI [ms] 795 ± 11 240 ± 10 869 ±9 763 ± 11 236 ± 13 240 ± 13 242 ± 13
N [pcs.] 237 240 231 235 232 239 241
800 cd/m2 tav [ms] 851 878 889 774 837 856 877
SD [ms] 92 83 86 82 105 110 90
CI [ms] 851 ± 12 878 ± 11 889 ± 11 774 ± 11 837 ± 14 856 ± 14 877 ± 11
N [pcs.] 234 231 229 228 229 234 240
7
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Fig. 11. Average and 95% confidence intervals for the reaction times of the drivers for Fig. 12. Average and 95% confidence intervals for the reaction times of the drivers for the
luminance of the image displayed and position of the LED screen relative to the main luminance of the image displayed and the size of the image displayed on the LED screen.
direction of observation.
statistically different are important. For this purpose, a post hoc ana-
interaction occurred between the luminance and the size of the image lysis was performed. The Newman-Keuls procedure was used to analyse
displayed as well as the luminance and the position of the LED screen in the differences at various levels of luminance. The results of the ana-
the field of view of the drivers. This means that the impact of these lysed cases with no statistically significant differences (the same effect
correlations on visual performance was significant. on visual performance) are summarised in tables 3 and 4. There were
By analysing the simultaneous effect of luminance and the position differences in the average reaction times of observers in the remaining
of the LED screen in the field of view of the drivers, it is possible to state cases p < α (statistically significant difference).
a faster increase in the reaction time to the sudden emergence of an Based on multiple applied comparisons, there are no statistically
obstacle on the road with an increase in the advertisement luminance significant differences between the average reaction times when the
for the location of the billboard at an angle of 33° relative to the main LED screens did not display the advertisements (L = 0 cd/m2), irre-
direction of observation when compared to the location at an angle of spective of the position of the device in the field of view of the drivers
44°. This indicates that the location of the billboard, which is closer to (see Table 3) and the measuring series for which the size of the dis-
the road, significantly decreases the visual performance of the drivers, played image was subsequently changed (see Table 4). No statistically
compared with the location further away from the road, irrespective of significant difference at the significance level of α = 0.05 indicate the
the considered luminance level. Even an 800 cd/m2 luminance at an same influence of laboratory workstation components on the visual
angle of 44° does not cause a decrease of the driver’s visual performance performance of the examined drivers (e.g. driving route design, pre-
as in the case of a 200 cd/m2 luminance at an angle of 33° (see Fig. 11). sence of the LED screen in the field of view of the drivers, driving si-
By analysing the simultaneous effect of luminance and the size of mulator service). The post hoc analysis also showed no statistically
the image displayed on the LED screen on the reaction times of the significant differences between 200 cd/m2 and 400 cd/m2 luminance
drivers, it can be stated that the smallest image size, irrespective of the values for the angle of 33° and also for the angle of 44° (see Table 3) as
luminance of the image displayed, had the smallest effect on the in- well as all screen sizes (see Table 4).
crease in the reaction time of the observers. For an advertisement dis- On this basis, it can be stated that the image luminance of 200 cd/
played on an area of 12.5% of the total area of the LED screen, even an m2 and 400 cd/m2 had the same effect on the visual performance of the
800 cd/m2 luminance gave shorter reaction times than a 200 cd/m2 observers irrespective of the size of the image displayed.
luminance on an area of 25% and 50%. In addition, for the 12.5% area, There was also no statistically significant difference between the
the slowest increase in time was recorded with a luminance increase average reaction times relative to the non-illuminated LED screen
from 0 cd/m2 to 200 cd/m2, compared with the remaining advertising (L = 0 cd/m2) and the luminance values of 200 cd/m2 and 400 cd/m2
sizes and luminance changes. This means that, in this case, the smallest for the image size of 12.5% (see Table 4). On this basis, it is possible to
impact of the illuminated advertisement with 200 cd/m2 luminance on conclude that there is no impact of 200 cd/m2 and 400 cd/m2 lumi-
the drivers’ visual performance was minimised. Other luminance nance values of advertisements occupying 12.5% of the total area of the
changes, irrespective of the size of the image, have a similar effect on LED screen at the laboratory workstation on the increase of the reaction
the extension of reaction time (the curves in Fig. 12 are nearly parallel), time of the observers and thus the decrease of their visual performance
while the luminance increase from 200 cd/m2 to 800 cd/m2, irrespec- irrespective of the position of the billboard in the field of view of the
tive of the size of the image displayed, results in a comparable reaction
time extension (35 ms for 12.5%, 40 ms for 25%, and 35 ms for 50%).
The analysis of the size of the image displayed and the location of Table 3
the LED screen in the field of view of the drivers showed a significant Post hoc comparisons for the interaction of luminance and location.
effect of both parameters on the reaction time of the drivers to the Interaction P-value
sudden emergence of an obstacle on the road. However, the impact of
image size on the reaction times of observers was stronger (17%) than Location*luminance Location*luminance
the location of the LED screen (12%). There was no statistically sig-
33º * 0 cd/m2 44º * 0 cd/m2 0.841
nificant interaction occurring between those parameters (see Table 2). 33º * 200 cd/m2 33º * 400 cd/m2 0.066
In order to determine the permissible luminance and area for an 44º * 800 cd/m2 0.790
LED billboard, which do not pose a significant threat to the urban road 44º * 200 cd/m2 44º * 400 cd/m2 0.629
traffic safety, cases for which the average reaction times are not 33º * 400 cd/m2 44º * 800 cd/m2 0.186
8
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
9
M. Zalesinska Accident Analysis and Prevention xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
10