Roadside digital billboard advertisements: Effects of static, transitioning, and animated designs on drivers’ performance and attention

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the effects of different types of digital billboard advertisements (DBAs) on drivers’ performance and attention allocation. Driver distraction is a major threat to driver safety. DBAs are one form of distraction in drivers’ outside environment. There are many different types of DBAs, such as static images, changing images, or videos. However, it is not clear to what extent each of these contributes to driver distraction. A total of 100 students participated in a controlled driving simulator experiment in an urban environment. Measures of driving performance were collected, as well as eye tracking and EEG as windows into attention allocation. The different types of DBAs investigated were static (a single image), transitioning (one static DBA replaces another), and animated (short videos). The statistical analysis demonstrated that there were significant differences in the effect of each type of DBA on drivers' performance (deviation from the center of the lane and reaction time), visual attention to the road (percent of fixations on the road, percent of fixations on DBAs, fixation duration on DBAs, and number of gazes on DBAs), and the EEG theta band and beta band. These results show that driving performance and attention to the road were both more negatively affected when drivers were exposed to transitioning and animated DBAs as compared to static DBAs. The results of this study provide guidance for the better design and regulation of DBAs in order to minimize driver distraction. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd