Politics & Government

BIG Expert Admits Not Doing Thorough Job On Billboard Report

The BIG expert testified that he did not conduct proper measurements of proposed locations of the billboards.

In a video recording of an October testimony, Bartkowski Investment Group's (BIG) light and visual expert Dr. Ronald Gibbons admitted he did not provide detailed information in the company’s billboard report.

At Thursday night’s Haverford Township Zoning Board meeting, a nearly 2-and-a-half-hour Oct. 24 video recording was presented, in which BIG’s attorney Marc Kaplin, Haverford Township Solicitor Jim Byrne and Lower Merion Township Solicitor Bill Kerr asked Gibbons numerous questions regarding his professional background and his past reports with other companies regarding billboards.

BIG is fighting to have five 672-square-foot billboards placed in Haverford Township—two of the billboards would be located along Lancaster Avenue in Haverford Township overlooking Bryn Mawr in Lower Merion Township, and three signs along West Chester Pike in Haverford Township.

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Gibbons, who is a director of the Center for Infrastructure Based Safety Systems at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and a lead lighting research scientist, created a report for BIG regarding the site locations for the proposed billboards.

During Byrne’s cross-examination, Gibbons said that on Aug. 10 of this year he and Thaddeus Bartkowski, owner of BIG, inspected each of the proposed billboard sites once, driving past them two times. 

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Gibbons said he and Bartkowski inspected one location,  on 2040 West Chester Pike in Havertown, for only half an hour.

Under Byrne’s cross-examination, Gibbons admitted that he did not use any kind of equipment to conduct measurements at that sign location, streets or area, nor did he ask the  what the traffic is like, do any type of research of the area or consult with PennDOT studies.

The light and visual expert also said he did not conduct any illumination or visibility research of the area.

“Isn’t that something as a lighting engineer, wouldn’t it be important to you?” Byrne asked.

“It would be, but I wasn’t asked to apply that,” Gibbons answered.

Kerr took that line of questioning to the proposed site overlooking Lancaster Avenue, asking if Gibbons took into account the time it takes for traffic lights to change, the space between the cars traveling down the road or accident reports along the road. Gibbons said he did not include those factors in his report.

The next big revelation was when Byrne presented Gibbons with an article about driving safety that the engineer wrote himself, in which Gibbons stated that distractions, such as billboards, were dangerous to drivers.

During Kaplin’s questioning, Gibbons said there is no difference in reaction time to drivers who read billboards to those who do not.

However, under Kerr’s questioning, Gibbons stated that it takes five to 10 seconds for a driver to read a billboard a couple of times to understand its meaning while trying to pay attention to the road.

Gibbons testified under Kaplin’s questions that the goal of his billboard report was to ensure that the proposed signs would have a minimal negative impact, where he looked at existing studies, looked at construction documentation, along with the proposed billboard sites.

Gibbons also stated that most drivers have a natural glance pattern, where they are constantly looking for pedestrians, other cars and signs.

Gibbons proposed that three of the five planned signs could be larger. The proposed sign on 2040 West Chester Pike could be increased to 1,200 square feet, he said, based on his calculations that he conducted for his report.

After the video testimony was finished, the zoning board said the next meeting will be Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, when attorneys would submit any written documents. Attorneys will present their closing oral arguments on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012.

Once the meeting was adjourned, Patch asked Kaplin if he thought Gibbons’ testimony would sway the zoning board. 

“Don’t ask me that. I don’t know what it will do. It’s for the court, we all know that,” Kaplin said, reiterating what he told the zoning board before it adjourned, that the only authority it has is to determine whether the township’s ordinance banning billboards is constitutional.

Sandi Donato, a member of No Billboards Coalition, shared her thoughts of Gibbons’ testimony.

“(Bartkowski) wasted his money on Gibbons,” she said. “The man contradicted himself.”


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