Influence of Billboards on Driver’s Behaviour under Mixed Traffic Condition

Abstract

In the past few years, billboards on the roadside have grown rapidly, creating a change in drivers' behavior. In addition to roadside advertising being a source of distractions, there were many growing problems that pose a threat to road safety. As a competing factor that attracts drivers, it can result in vehicle collisions and accidents. The paper discusses the impact of billboards, finding those factors that influence drivers' behavior, and developing a model that can predict those characteristics that influence driver behavior. Method: A Driver Behaviour questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data for about 512 participants. The data were analysed with SEM to determine the relationship between the variables (Endogenous and Exogenous). In this model, the exogenous latent variables are the human factors (Gender, Age, Driving Experience), the billboard characteristics (Size, colour, Font size, Celebrity image, Content), and the road characteristics (intersection, Sight distance) and the endogenous variable is distraction. Results: Using SEM, it was found that the DBQ data obtained helped determine the influence of each factor that led to distraction through a coefficient of Human factor, Billboard characteristics and Road factors. Based on estimates of the coefficients for each factor, the human factor is more effective for causing driver distraction, i.e., the tendency to get distracted differs with age, gender, and driving experience.