Driving distractions

Australian researchers have proved that visual clutter around roads, including prominent advertising, signs or billboards, can be a hazard for drivers - especially older ones.

They found that the distractions delay drivers' abilities to detect a change around them - such as a vehicle changing lanes - by an average of half a second. Older drivers took the longest to react.

The work - from the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) - has important implications for the design and regulation of road environments and could lead to a new debate surrounding the need for tighter advertising restrictions along roads and highways.

'Driving on a typical major road is a complex activity where drivers must process large amounts of visual information, which continuously changes, and make decisions at speed,' said researcher Jessica Edquist.

Edquist conducted a series of tests with more than 100 drivers, almost half using MUARC's high-technology advanced driving simulator. She found that drivers were distracted by billboards - they drove more slowly, took longer to change lanes in response to road signs and made more errors when changing lanes.