Fall foliage season is in full swing across the Northeast, with vibrant autumn leaves lining highways throughout the region and much of the United States.
For some drivers, however, the once-a-year display of natural beauty is being interrupted by an unwelcome presence: billboards.
“I’m so tired of the constant barrage of advertising everywhere we look,” one Facebook user wrote.
Another posted: “I know ‘hate’ is a strong word, but I actually hate advertisement billboards.”
“I hate billboards,” a third person wrote. “I am driving across the plateau, one of the prettier places in America, and all I can see is a sixty-foot potty joke every five miles. F**k you.”
Mark Falzone, president of Scenic America, shares that frustration. He has dedicated his career to helping beautify the country through the organization.
“We can choose not to have billboard blight in our lives,” he told Our News Outlet.
Falzone said the issue affects Americans across a “mobile society,” meaning billboards along highways and those near residential areas can influence people’s well-being in similar ways.
Fall foliage season is in full swing across the Northeast, with colorful autumn leaves lining highways across the United States
For some drivers, the seasonal scenery is being interrupted by billboards. Pictured: Century Boulevard in Los Angeles
He pointed to studies indicating that people generally feel better in attractive surroundings. Some drivers may not even recognize why they enjoy traveling through Vermont more than passing through New Hampshire or Florida, he said.
“It’s a distraction,” Falzone told Our News Outlet, adding that once people become aware of the visual clutter, it can permanently change the way they experience a drive.
Florida has the largest number of Department of Transportation (DOT)-permitted billboards, with more than 32,000. Texas ranks second with about 24,000, followed by Michigan with 23,000, Ohio with 19,000 and Pennsylvania with 18,000, according to Scenic America.
Excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont—all of which have banned billboards—Washington, DC, has the fewest, with 86, the outlet reported.
Vermont became the first state to eliminate the consumer-focused advertisements in 1968. Maine followed a decade later, The Boston Globe reported.
The billboard bans in Hawaii and Alaska were enacted before the two territories became states, so drivers there have never had to contend with them.
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Scenic America has also criticized a policy allowing billboard companies to remove taxpayer-funded trees near signs when the DOT permits it.
Falzone said those trees serve purposes that go “beyond their aesthetic beauty.”
“It’s a distraction,” Mark Falzone told Our News Outlet. “We can choose not to have billboard blight in our lives.”
Trees can help absorb sound, manage runoff and reduce pollution, among other benefits.
“It makes no sense,” Falzone said of removing trees simply to make billboards more visible.
He clarified that he does not object to billboard companies removing trees from their own property—only to the cutting of trees owned by the state.
Falzone also argued that billboards are no longer necessary when so much advertising reaches consumers through their smartphones. Protecting the country’s natural scenery should therefore take priority, he said.
Mississippi ranked highest for out-of-vehicle distractions, including billboards, in a study by Martin Law Firm that was shared with Our News Outlet.
The Southern state also had the highest rate of deaths per 100 million miles driven, according to the law firm.
Delaware and West Virginia ranked just behind Mississippi.
Falzone said billboards do not need to disappear everywhere. Places such as Route 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, pictured, are known for them
New York City’s Times Square is famous worldwide for its billboards. A single sign can generate millions of dollars in revenue each year
Delaware has 379 billboard faces for every 1,000 miles of highway—the highest density in the nation—even though it ranks 43rd overall for its total number of billboards.
“What this index really shows is that ‘distracted driving’ isn’t just a phone problem—it’s an attention problem, and most of it is completely outside your control,” Justin Martin, the law firm’s founding partner, said in a statement.
Still, Falzone said billboards are not necessarily out of place everywhere. Times Square in New York City and Route 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, are both known for their signs and attract visitors partly because of them.
Our News Outlet has contacted major billboard companies for comment.
