Call for ban on on vehicle-side advertising

ALL ADVERTISING and promotional banners on commercial vehicles should be banned as they are distracting to other drivers and tempt them to use mobile phones while driving.

This is the call from Flexed, a car leasing company, which has carried out a survey that shows a quarter (23%) of drivers admit to trying to type a website address into smartphone after seeing an advert on a lorry.

A further 10% of drivers admitted they had tried to take a camera phone photo of an advertisement on a commercial vehicle to use later. Also, 4% of drivers said they had found themselves in a dangerous situation after being distracted by mobile advertising and 1% said they had tried to scan a QR code while driving.

Mark Hall from Flexed said: ‘Roads are busy enough as it is without yet another distraction for drivers and increasing numbers of road users tell us that their heads have been turned by these mobile adverts when they were supposed to be concentrating on the road. Drivers tell us that with modern technology at their fingertips, it's all too easy to be drawn away from the task in hand.’

By Press Association reporters