Insider posted yesterday on the regulatory history of the 6-8 second digital sign flip.  Barrett Outdoor’s John Barrett – who’s been in the industry longer than most of us – says this:

It is frightening as I get older to discover how often I have ended up as one of the last or the “last person that was in the room(s)”.  This history is based on a collection of discussions by the SST & legal/legislative committees, telephone discussions and hallway discussions.

The origin of the 6 second dwell time standard was to address early safety concerns when drafting state laws allowing digital signs prior to the Virginia Tech and FHWA research.  The idea was to limit the number of message changes to 1 per vehicle in the 500’ view shed at the legal speed limit of 55 MPH.  This was never adopted as an industry best practice or standard and that is why you can’t find a record of it.

The view shed was based on the 500′ minimum spacing between interstate sings under the HBA.  We used 500′ because the HBA essentially sets that as a safe distance between messages.

The math is 55 MPH = 80.659 feet/sec.  500 feet divided by 80.659 ft/sec = 6.19 sec. rounded to 6 sec.  That is why the laws in many states set the minimum display time to 6 seconds.

Early contracts reflected the 6 second standard so as not to conflict with local and state laws.

Over time industry members recognized that 6 seconds was too short a period for drivers and passengers to understand the messages and the time crept up to 7, 8 and 10 seconds.  As more states and municipalities adopted digital legislation, operators were comfortable accepting or advocating longer dwell times.  Over time the 8 and 10 second dwell times became common and local and state laws and contracts with 6 second minimums were amended to reflect the evolving 8 and 10 second standard.

Insider’s take:  The oracle speaks.  Thanks for the insight John!

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