A digital billboard placed along the heavily traveled Route 30 Bypass in Downingtown is distracting local residents, a feeling they would much rather avoid when driving, writes Michaelle Bond from philly.com.

The billboard, set up on April 5^th, is part of a new style of advertising which is lighting up highways across the country with 6,400 at the last count, 379 of those in Pennsylvania.

The industry has embraced this type of marketing as it allows for several advertisers to share the space and allows them to adjust their message depending on the time of day, day of the week, and traffic patterns.

The boards are also useful for public-service announcements and for law enforcement, which has used them to capture over 50 people.

However, not everyone is seeing the benefits of this new advertising technique. In Downingtown, it is not only the drivers who are protesting the display.

Residents along North Lake Drive have to deal with the light from the 672-square-foot display shining directly into their homes at night.

With growing complaints to city authorities, Ann Feldman, a Downingtown council member, said she regretted her vote to approve the digital board, but the plans presented to the council complied with borough zoning.

“Our ordinances are just deficient because most municipalities have never had to deal with this before,” she said.

Read more about the issue at philly.com here.