Thursday, July 06, 2006

And How Are Flashing Vegas-Style Electronic Billboards Any Less of a Safety Issue?

If you're worried about this being distracting, any billboard, any individual dressed up in a chicken outfit, to bring attention to businesses, should be regulated as well.

It's true. The roadside vendors that I see when I drive up through the sprawl along Gallatin Road in and near Jim Forkum's and Michael Craddock's Madison will not be affected by this bill. The dozen or so pit bull mongers sit on a grassy berm just off a large strip-mall parking lot, giving them each at least six spaces. The car dealerships have people dressed up in shiny metallic robot outfits playing rock music over loud speakers to distract passing motorists, yet they will not be regulated by this bill. Do you get the sneaking suspicion that this bill is directed at "somebody else"?

By the way, I would like to know whether this bill's supporters voted against Buck Dozier's and Ludye Wallace's electronic billboard bill, which passed two readings before being deferred earlier this year. However, since those votes were voice rather than recorded, we will not be able to measure Jim Forkum's conviction that "the focal point should be traffic, not vendors."

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