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Philly Township Hopes to Avoid Digital B-Boards

Yet another township is taking steps to block digital billboards from its communities. Plumstead, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, is working to tighten language that already prohibits signs with flashing or intermittent lights.

The decision follows a similar move by nearby Doylestown, which banned video signs last year, writes the (Philadelphia) Intelligencer.

Last month, West Rockhill supervisors banned signs that are animated or have changing messages through computerized methods.

Over the past year, towns and cities across the country have engaged in similar moves to block digital billboards, often harping on the twin dangers of light pollution and driver safety. Billboard companies soothe the uproar with promises to post Amber Alerts, weather and traffic info, and other useful public safety information.

Last fall, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a guidance memorandum (pdf) that permits the construction of thousands of digital billboards along interstate and federal-aid highways.

The policy was issued in advance of the completion of the FHWA’s research into the safety issues associated with the signs, Scenic America points out. That research will not be completed until 2009.