The billboard debate elsewhere

So, in theory the Knox County Commission this month will finally sign off on whatever it is they want to do about billboards. Ban them, keep them, regulate them, whatever.

Or, they can go ahead and postpone the discussions for another day. Been putting it off for more than four years, so what's another month? Heh.

Anyhoo, Joyce Feld, president of Scenic Knoxville, shot me over an email that says the Swedish government “has ordered the removal of digital billboards in that country.” Hmmm. Interesting. Course, we ain't Sweden.

Still, if you're into this kind of stuff, here's the report right smack here. (I would not be surprised if this gets cited by the billboard opponents during discussions this month.)

In her email, Feld also noted that a “well-regarded” 2006 study by Virginia Tech found that “anything that takes a driver's eyes off the road for more than two seconds greatly increases the risk of a crash.”

Well, yeah, no kidding. Hope a lot of money wasn't spent on that study. I mean, seriously. Anything that takes a driver's eyes off the road for ONE second greatly increases the risk of a crash.

Money well spent on the obvious.

Still, find that report right smack here as it, too, will probably be cited.

Overall, my guess is the commission is going to do some kind of trade off with the billboard industry in that local companies will  able to take down a billboard or five and replace it elsewhere (or even at the same location) with a digital version.

We'll see.