cuz they're fast

Me and Kramer: Afraid of clowns.

Marsupials scare me.

If it doesn't matter, why do you seem to be so concerned?

Is this a joke? Why are we so worried about how many messages or how long it takes a sign to change its message. 6, 10, 30, whatever it is. So mr/mrs city council member, if these signs changed every 10 seconds, would you be wanting to change them to 15 or 45 seconds? Who will get the last word. Im in favor of the signs. As a matter of fact, they (Lamar) are helping you (the city) in trying to capture felons. Thank you Lamar. Hey, I think the yellow traffic light should be 5 seconds so I can make it through safe. Lets vote on that.

luvujvl, keep your eyes on the road and hands at 2 and 4 o'clock.

Personally I love the digital signs - Amber alerts, traffic info, weather info, all at the touch of a button. That makes good sense for public awareness. 6 second intervals will make the advertising commpany more money - what is wrong with that? They are the ones offering us the opportunity to post Amber alerts and other pertinent information. Good for them, let them cash in and go eat lobster. Who cares. They are helping us all, hats off to them and cash in where they may.

The movie Blade Runner was prophetic.

Six seconds - ten seconds - what about 6 and three quarter seconds - or nine seconds? This is ridiculous for the city council to argue about time length for the digital billboards to change. This is just another instance of government trying to find anything and everything to tax or regulate. IF the billboards currently meet the size requirements what more regulations are the city council dream up to stop their use altogether.

Everyone should rest assured now that the issue is being put before the city's brain trust.

The city definitely has it out for Lamar and Babcock. Why else would they cry and whine about 6 seconds on those companies' signs but say it's OK for Kwik Trip when their signs change every 4 seconds?

For those of you that wish all signs would come down, why are you not making more noise? Seems like the time to do it. Maybe you think the city council won’t listen to you. But the city council takes into consideration every comment and they would never act outside of what the majority thinks would be best. That’s why the hold public hearings.

After going into convulsions from the reckless flickering of billboard signs I think the interval times are way to fast. Please Mr. Yarmark, have mercy on us drivers. Please city council save us from the evil billboards. We are only human and we can’t take the constant flickering!! I don’t know if I’m driving or at the circus. Yes this is all sarcastic. I can’t help it. Electronic Billboard interval times. I guess there are just some things we tolerate as Americans, and some things we don’t. Every night I sit down for dinner with my family and ask how their life was affected by the Electronic Billboard interval times. I’m sorry but someone on the city council doesn’t like Mr. Yarmark or his business. That is my opinion.

I think that bikinis in public are a great idea, but I am not sure that everyone should wear them. And I hope that those wanted pictures do help catch some criminals. Those are some mean-looking hombres.

you people that refer to other states or countries, if you are so satisfied with how they operate move there. The city has too much say in general already. When will it end? They choose where you smoke, what you can do on your own property, signs etc they next will tell you what you can wear on what days.

It's amazing to me that 6 billboard which have presumably caused no accidents have everyone in a tizzy. Billboards have been around for many years - too late to ban all of them!

Do you know what distracts me? Children climbing around in cars without car seats. Kids walking through town later at night. The poor 'Statue of Liberty' people freezing outside that horrible tax place. I am THRILLED to see weather warnings, amber alerts and wanted faces on these electronic billboards. What a great modern use of resources! They could have prevented the interstate backup if local officials had actually cared it was going on. I don't want many more, but a few more would not hurt us and could definitely help. Pick an interval that's worked in other places and move on to more important issues!

The billboards are just fine the way they are. Leave them alone. If you want to make the roads safe in the city the ban CELL PHONES. Everytime i go to drive somewhere i see cop, postal workers, semi truck divers and just about everybody else talking on their phones. Were talking about 4 billboards wow. Im talking about thousands of people. Which one would make the roads safer?!?!?!?!?

Billboards are an absolute blight on the landscape. Is there a reason we need to be bombarded with ads every moment of the day?

If this community had any standards there wouldn't be any billboards. Oregon state puts limits on their billboards and it makes a big difference. It's nice how big business dictates how and what we are exposed to, welcome to Amerika.

The city "experts" should just accept the state limit of 6 seconds and acknowledge that the DOT knows more about this than they do. Insisting on 10 of 30 seconds just makes them look like their authority has gone to their heads.

I Like the new billboards. They seem like they can show information that is more current. Also, I don't find them distracting at all. Certainly no more distracting than any other sign. I pay attention to the road wile I am driving and survey my surroundings... like any other normal person. Doesn't the city administration have better things to focus on that this?

I personally don't like these new electronic billboards, mainly because of how fast they change. Yes, I do look at them when I drive, even though I know I shouldn't. I can't seem to help it! (it's like I'm a fly being drawn to light, lol) But when they change so fast I look at the sign for longer, trying to read what it says while it's still there. Meaning, my eyes are on the road less. I know, it's bad. But with the older billboards, I don't seem to have this problem. That's just my personal opinion.

If you think that watching a tv while driving is a good idea, then these giant screen roadside tvs are a great idea.

Anyone who has traveled in Europe knows that the absence of billboards is one of the first things you'll notice and how much BETTER it is because they're not screaming for your attention nor blocking any view. Americans are bombarded by advertising 24/7 in every possible venue. It's time to remove billboards of all types.

All types of signage should be banned including stop signs, yield signs, billboards, etc. They are all a distraction. Police lights and sirens are also distractions. Ban it all! People have more gadgets in thier cars that cause more of a distraction. Please save us from ourselves.

This seems to be another example of no matter what you do someone is going to complain about it. I too think the new digital signs are much nicer to look at. I think they can and do serve a great service to the community with the ability to post amber alerts and other public service announcements. As far as the time between changes, I think 10 seconds sounds like a good number, but then again, what do I know, lol. I know when I am driving I don't pay much attention to them. When I am a passanger I read them. I also get frustrated when I am trying to read them and they change to fast, but it isn't the end of the world for me. I soon forget about it after passing the sign.
I think there are much more important things in the world for people to worry about than how fast a sign changes.

I think the main danger here is a quickly changing sign can be a distraction, especially at night. The eye is naturally drawn to light when it's dark out, and a changing light is even more compelling. A lot of drivers are overly distracted as it is -- how many times have you seen some clown with a cell phone stick in his ear go drifting out of his lane -- and the last thing we need is something else competing for their attention. Advertisers want the sign to change quickly because they're counting on you to be looking at the sign the entire time it's in your line of sight. That's good for their revenue, but bad for everybody else on the road. One change per 30 seconds should be plenty.

I far prefer the digital billboards over the traditional ones. They just look better. I also really like the ability to display public information notices quickly - like weather warnings or Amber alerts. That could save a life. The 10-second interval seems like a fair enough compromise to me.

With all due respect, the digital billboards have significantly more visual appeal than the sometimes faded (and occasionally dated) ads from the traditional billboards. I guess I don't understand the argument regarding aesthetics. Now, for the safety issue - honestly, I think a bikini-clad coed would be a much more likely distraction than a digital billboard. So, does that mean we need a municipal ordinance to prohibit bikinis in public?

These signs have been up since, what, last summer? You'd think if they were such a safety hazard, we'd be hearing about accidents by now.

I don't think the signs are by themselves a problem, but I wonder about placement. The Monterey Bridge sign is visible for a good long time (but you can't always read the text at that distance) -- but it's also a pretty dicey place to drive in the recent weather. Some of the other ones have pretty high rates of traffic entering the street within the sign's visibility range. The city may want to keep a close eye on the number of accidents for that reason.
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On another note -- It may be too soon, but I'm curious whether the Janesville Police are having any success putting up their wanted posters on the signs.

Quite frankly, I keep my eyes on the road when I drive. I must have drove right by these signs for over a month and never noticed them. I made it a point to look for them after reading about them and I must say they are no big deal, even at night. I'd advise advertisers to save your money. They're not worth it. No matter how often they change.