Determine the criteria for distractionof drivers caused by billboards (Case Study: Tehran-Karaj Highway)

Notification and advertisement are the main marketing bases in advanced societies.The installation of commercial and advertising billboards on the freeways and highways is one of the advertisement methods and are becoming more common every day. The main reason is that the billboards are able to attract more people at a lower cost than other advertising media. The Tehran-Karaj Freeway is one of the most important communication routes in the country, which includes a significant part of the everyday traffic. Considering the importance of the Tehran-Karaj Highway as well as increasing the safety of traffic on this highway, this study determines the criteria for assessing the distraction of drivers by billboards (case study:Tehran-Karaj Freeway). The present research is applied in terms of its purpose and survey based on method. The statistical population of the study consisted of 1200 users of the Tehran-Karaj highway. The research questionnaire was prepared based on studying the previous research in the field of research, analyzing questionnaires and reviewing related articles and dissertations.In this study, the Cronbach's alpha value was 0.783 using the SPSS program, which indicated the reliability of the questionnaire In order to assess the validity of the questionnaire, the views of three university professors in the field of traffic culture were used.The validity and accuracy of the questionnaire was confirmed by these individuals. The hierarchical multivariable regression analysis (HMR) technique was used to analyze the data in this study.Accordingly drivers' behavior changes and becomes risky when they are exposed to and passing through billboards.