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Drivers are constantly being distracted by some kind of external stimuli, such crying babies or speeding cars, and now, according to a new study, drivers may also need to worry about what they see on billboards. Billboards seem to have more of an effect on drivers' emotions than previously noted and emotional stimuli can be considered to be more dangerous since people often do not realize the effects these stimuli have on their behaviors. Michelle Chan, the head researcher at the University of Alberta in Canada, conducted an experiment in which she observed how participants involuntarily reacted toward billboards with negative, positive, and neutral wording, and her findings show alarming results.

Chan found that irregardless of the type of words present on the billboards, the effects were ultimately negative. After participants drove past 20 different billboards, Chan and her fellow researchers concluded that negatively charged words lowered a driver's reaction time which can be very dangerous for other vehicles, pedestrians, and the driver as well. These billboards also seem to cause drivers to slow down and snake into nearby lanes due to the lack of attention. Positively charged words seem to make drivers unconsciously step harder on the pedal, driving faster than usual. 

"There have been studies showing that when you're positively stimulated, your attention broadens, so you perform better when you're in a happy mood," Chan stated according to Yahoo! News. However, performing better in this case is equivalent to driving faster, which is not necessarily the safest thing to do on the road. Chan and co-author, Anthony Singhal, a psychology professor at the university, concluded that emotional stimuli will divert drivers' attention span and focus from driving, which can be extremely dangerous. 

Chan acknowledges the fact that billboards often go unsupervised, which would explain why there are so many distracting billboards, especially the ones located near Las Vegas. Chan also expresses the importance of prescreening billboards and weening out those that may have a huge impact on drivers. In Australia, some billboards are  prescreened to prevent adding more stimuli for drivers. However, screening billboards is a difficult task and thus, it is important that drivers remember to stay focus on the road.