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![]() The Sign Height Fight
By Richard Crawford, United States Sign Council Legal Counsel
Take a read on to see what tools you need to bring to your next sign height fight.
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Local municipalities, in the 1990s, initiated a move toward mandating lower freestanding signs: lower sign height, so-called "monument" signs, and restricted height for pole-mounted signs along highways. Today, we see an increase in this activity related to down-sizing the height of freestanding sign structures. Why do we care about sign height? The simple answer is: because drivers have a hard time seeing low signs on many types of roads, and that in turn creates a Public Safety issue. As professionals, that's why we care about this subject. There are locations where low signs are appropriate, and others were they are not advisable.
Can you see me now? Here is a very basic summary of the findings: drivers have a very hard time seeing low freestanding signs in most commercial environments due to the driver's vision being blocked by other cars on the road - you can't see through the cars! As the amount and density of traffic increases on these roads, drivers have progressively less time and distance to see and read the signs - and that can have a direct effect on Traffic Safety. Following the publication of the USSC sign height study, the USSC published it's "On Premise Sign Standards" which incorporated all of the information on Sign Height. The USSC Standards in turn have been accepted by the American Planning Association (APA) and published by the APA in the new edition of "Street Graphics and the Law" (2004). These principles were also incorporated into the International Zoning Code (2006), published by the International Code Council (ICC), which is the national association for building officials. Nonetheless, we continue to see the effort by many towns to restrict Freestanding Sign Height. And here lies the original problem - the attempt to make low sign height uniform for an entire municipality, regardless of traffic conditions or development of the area. This one-size-fits-all approach completely ignores the Traffic Safety implications of restricted sign height.
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Why fight it? Here are some examples of what you may hear when you ask, "What are the reasons for lower signs?":
As representatives of a national sign association, we take no position on the relative merit of tall or low signs. Beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder. However, our very firm position is that low mounting height is often inappropriate for many roadway environments, from a Public Safety perspective. Solution: allow signs to be taller. Being able to see a freestanding sign, with adequate time and distance, is not an aesthetic matter or matter of good local planning - it is purely a matter of Traffic and Public Safety - and there exists no legitimate legal "balancing test" that we are aware of that weighs Traffic Safety with aesthetics. Our role as sign professionals is to provide information to regulators and at times, advocacy on behalf of proper sign design and controls. If sign regulations are objective and scientific, and not arbitrary, then the goals of all concerned can be achieved. USSC Members already have copies of "Sign Visibility: Effects of Traffic Characteristics and Mounting Height" (#4 on the page), as well as the "USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Sign" (#11 on the page), both of which address the sign height issue and can provide you with the information necessary to help combat inappropriately low sign height. If you are not a USSC member, you can obtain copies of these publications, as well as all USSC sign research literature at www.ussc.org/publications, or by simply calling the USSC offices at 215-785-1922. Full information on USSC membership is also available at www.ussc.org. It pays to belong!
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