"This is dangerous," said Garren Rose from the passenger seat of his girlfriend's car. "Oh my God! It's on all sides," she exclaimed.
You can hear the pair talking back and forth in a cell phone video Rose posted on Reddit a few weeks ago showing a truck covered in bright, moving advertisements.
"It was kind of like driving behind a movie screen all of a sudden," Rose said. "It was just completely out of context."
Rose and many other social media users commented with questions about how this video display truck would be allowed to operate in Arizona with how distracting it was.
"Even if you're trying to ignore it, it's grabbing your eyes," Rose said. "It's like moving and dancing around... the town of wrong-way drivers and craziness, yeah - there's no way that that that should be here or probably should be allowed to be here."
ABC15 sent the video the Department of Public Safety who sent us this response in an email:
CMV’s:
Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations: 393.25 prohibits any flashing lights, except turn signals. That said, most of those billboard trucks I’ve seen in Las Vegas are small enough that they don’t fall under our definition of a CMV in Arizona. So, it would have to be a Title 28 issue like any other improperly colored lamps on cars.
If they are interstate and in commerce, they would be classified as a commercial vehicle if the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) is over 10,001 pounds. If operating intrastate, the GVWR would have to be 26,001 or greater to be classified as a commercial vehicle.
Passenger Cars:
ARS 28-931(C)(2) states rear lights can only be red, amber or yellow and backup/license plate lights be white.
ARS 28-940 outlines additional lights to cowl or fender lamps, running board lights, or backup lights (These clearly aren’t for any of those purposes).
28-947(C) prohibits flashing lights, (a few exceptions but they don’t apply here).
DPS said these were the different violations the truck driver would be cited for it if a trooper saw them, as they appeared in the video, on the roadway.
But, Brian Morris said it was all a mistake. He's the owner of Boom Video Trucks in Arizona and he also saw that video posted online.
"My heart dropped," Morris said. "I mean, I mean it was... every time you see anything negative about something you're doing, it's obviously ownership like a baby, you know - it's like your child."
Morris knows it was bad advertising for them. But, he said there was a glitch and they have never been cited by DPS or police before.
"Our sensor was supposed to turn off our moving ads into a static ads and the brightness level wasn't adjusting like they were supposed to," Morris explained. "Which is the nuances that you work through as you have new technology.
You don't know where the failures are at until something actually fails."
Morris brought two trucks to the ABC15 studios to explain how the brightness and static is supposed to be operating.
During the day, the trucks are supposed to operate at 100% brightness. When the sun starts to go down, it starts to drop to 48%. Then, when it's dark outside, it drops to 4%.
"We're not trying to be a nuisance to anybody," Morris said. "We're just out there trying to create a different way of branding."
Seen something interesting on the roadway that you want Operation Safe Roads to look into? You can call 833-AZROADS or email roads@abc15.com.
