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Guide 3 of 5
25 secondsNSW, where the speed limit is 80 km/h and over
the small format, a 6 sheet poster, 3 x 1.5 m, 4.5 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; mounted mainly on walls and often located in suburban areas a portrait 50s, 3 x 4.5 m, 13.5 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; it has a magazine cover look a super6, 6 x 3 m, 18 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; commonly known as poster sites and seen in local areas attached to buildings, pole or frame mounted; the source gives the 24 sheet poster the same 6 x 3 m, the size at which Victoria defines a major promotion sign; this face reaches it at exactly 18 m² Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Super6 / 24 sheet at 6 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 3 m) a super8, 8.3 x 2.2 m, 18.26 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; the same proportion as supersites, to enable consistency of content for advertisers Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Super8 at 8.18 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 2.2 m) a supersite, 12.33 x 3.35 m, 41.31 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; the most common large format sign, often sold in packs cells past 20 m² on the Supersite face, filled guide-sign green: past NSW's 20 m² concurrence size, for a face within 250 m of and visible from a classified road Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Supersite at 5.37 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 3.35 m) NSW: an advertisement with a display area greater than 20 m², or higher than 8 m, within 250 m of and visible from a classified road, needs Transport for NSW concurrence before consent. It crosses Supersite at 5.97 m along, Dotto’s calculation (20 m² ÷ 3.35 m) a spectacular, 18.99 x 4.5 m, 85.46 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; frame, gantry or pole mounted cells past 20 m² on the Spectacular face, filled guide-sign green: past NSW's 20 m² concurrence size, for a face within 250 m of and visible from a classified road cells past 48 m² on the Spectacular face, filled deep red: past Brisbane's cap of 48 m² per side Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Spectacular at 4 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 4.5 m) NSW: an advertisement with a display area greater than 20 m², or higher than 8 m, within 250 m of and visible from a classified road, needs Transport for NSW concurrence before consent. It crosses Spectacular at 4.44 m along, Dotto’s calculation (20 m² ÷ 4.5 m) Brisbane: the area of a billboard sign must not exceed 48 m² per side, for a maximum of two sides. It crosses Spectacular at 10.67 m along, Dotto’s calculation (48 m² ÷ 4.5 m)
  1. the small format, a 6 sheet poster, 3 x 1.5 m, 4.5 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; mounted mainly on walls and often located in suburban areas
  2. a portrait 50s, 3 x 4.5 m, 13.5 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; it has a magazine cover look
  3. a super6, 6 x 3 m, 18 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; commonly known as poster sites and seen in local areas attached to buildings, pole or frame mounted; the source gives the 24 sheet poster the same 6 x 3 m, the size at which Victoria defines a major promotion sign; this face reaches it at exactly 18 m² Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Super6 / 24 sheet at 6 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 3 m)
  4. a super8, 8.3 x 2.2 m, 18.26 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; the same proportion as supersites, to enable consistency of content for advertisers Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Super8 at 8.18 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 2.2 m)
  5. a supersite, 12.33 x 3.35 m, 41.31 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; the most common large format sign, often sold in packs cells past 20 m² on the Supersite face, filled guide-sign green: past NSW's 20 m² concurrence size, for a face within 250 m of and visible from a classified road Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Supersite at 5.37 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 3.35 m) NSW: an advertisement with a display area greater than 20 m², or higher than 8 m, within 250 m of and visible from a classified road, needs Transport for NSW concurrence before consent. It crosses Supersite at 5.97 m along, Dotto’s calculation (20 m² ÷ 3.35 m)
  6. a spectacular, 18.99 x 4.5 m, 85.46 m², Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions; frame, gantry or pole mounted cells past 20 m² on the Spectacular face, filled guide-sign green: past NSW's 20 m² concurrence size, for a face within 250 m of and visible from a classified road cells past 48 m² on the Spectacular face, filled deep red: past Brisbane's cap of 48 m² per side Victoria: from 18 m² an application must add more material; the same figure is the definition of a major promotion sign. It crosses Spectacular at 4 m along, Dotto’s calculation (18 m² ÷ 4.5 m) NSW: an advertisement with a display area greater than 20 m², or higher than 8 m, within 250 m of and visible from a classified road, needs Transport for NSW concurrence before consent. It crosses Spectacular at 4.44 m along, Dotto’s calculation (20 m² ÷ 4.5 m) Brisbane: the area of a billboard sign must not exceed 48 m² per side, for a maximum of two sides. It crosses Spectacular at 10.67 m along, Dotto’s calculation (48 m² ÷ 4.5 m)

In NSW, where the limit is 80 km/h or more, a digital billboard holds each picture for at least 25 seconds

A digital billboard is a screen beside a road, and the rules time what it shows: the dwell time is how long each picture must stand still, and NSW sets it by the speed limit. Where the limit is below 80 km/h it is at least 10 seconds, and at 80 km/h and over it is at least 25 seconds.

General information, not planning or legal advice.

How long a picture must hold

Table 3 of the NSW Transport Corridor Outdoor Advertising and Signage Guidelines sets dwell times for image display: not less than 10 seconds for areas where the speed limit is below 80 km/h, and not less than 25 seconds for areas where the speed limit is 80 km/h and over. For a moving sign, the image must be completely static from its first appearance to the commencement of a change to another display, and the dwell time is a minimum of 10 seconds, which includes 3 seconds to scroll. Message sequencing that makes a driver anticipate the next message is prohibited, both across the images presented on a single sign and across a series of signs.

The change itself is timed too: the transition between messages must be no longer than 0.1 seconds, and in the event of image failure the default image must be a black screen. Sign spacing should limit a driver’s view to a single sign at any given time, with a distance of no less than 150 m between signs in any one corridor. An electronic log of a sign’s operational activity must be kept by the operator for the duration of the development consent, available for a review in case of a complaint, and any digital sign within 250 metres of a classified road and visible from a school zone must be switched to a fixed display during school zone hours.

Both sets of criteria sit in the NSW Transport Corridor Outdoor Advertising and Signage Guidelines (November 2017): Table 3 carries the digital sign criteria, and section 3.3.2 the dwell and transition rules for moving signs. The guidelines’ own scope is advertising within 250 m of, and visible from, a classified road, so these are the transport corridor’s rules for screens, read alongside the planning controls for the sign’s consent.

Worked example

Dotto’s calculation from the figures cited above
  1. At 80 km/h a car covers 22.2 m every second (80,000 m ÷ 3,600 s). In the 25 seconds that one picture must hold, it covers about 556 m.
  2. The change between pictures may take up to 0.1 seconds. At the same speed, the car covers about 2.2 m during the change.
  3. Digital signs should be at least 150 m apart in any one corridor. At the same speed, a driver passes that distance in about 6.8 seconds, under 7 seconds.

Brisbane and Victoria beside NSW

NSW

In NSW the rules time the picture and the change, prohibit message sequencing, keep a screen within 250 m of a classified road and visible from a school zone fixed during school zone hours, and require the operator to keep an electronic log for the life of the consent. The guidelines also cap the level of reflectance of an advertisement and will not approve flashing illuminated advertisements.

Victoria

One Victorian rule for electronic signs is a referral: an application to construct or put up for display an animated or electronic sign within 60 metres of a freeway or arterial road declared under the Road Management Act 2004 must be referred, in accordance with section 55 of the Act, to the referral authority named in clause 66.03 of the planning scheme or in a schedule to that clause. An application for a sign with a display area of 18 square metres or more must also state the dwell and change time for any non-static images.

Brisbane

Brisbane’s approval rules turn on 4 square metres of electronic display: an existing approval cannot be amended if the change takes any electronic display component past 4 m², and instead needs a new application, and Level 3 fees are charged for a new Level 2 sign using more than 4 m² of electronic display to show third-party advertising content. A device with illumination or electronic display must also meet the Council’s advertising devices technical standards, and the state’s roadside advertising manual carries a fact sheet on small electronic devices under 4 square metres within school zones, where the aim is that safety around schools is not compromised by driver distraction from signs schools use to reach their communities. Brisbane’s local law also lists high-impact electronic display signs, such as electronic or LED billboards, as prohibited devices in certain locations, and approval cannot be requested for a prohibited device.

When a screen fails

If a digital billboard’s image fails, what it shows is set by the same criteria: the default image must be a black screen. That is the NSW rules’ response to a failed image, and it sits beside the 0.1 second limit on the transition between messages.