Vermont was the first state to ban billboards.| US State Facts #Shorts

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Transcript

00:00Did you know that one state in the U.S. has banned billboards entirely?

00:05In this state, you can drive for hours without seeing a single billboard.

00:09But before we reveal where, here's why this is such a big deal.

00:13Billboards are considered a public nuisance.

00:16They litter the landscape, ruin the aesthetic of a city or town,

00:20and they distract drivers, which is dangerous.

00:23And studies have shown that billboards can decrease property values.

00:26And while some may argue that billboards are a form of free speech,

00:31the argument can be made that they are commercial speech,

00:35which is not protected by the First Amendment.

00:37So with all the arguments for getting rid of billboards,

00:41why hasn't the government just banned them everywhere?

00:44Well, it turns out that one state did.

00:46Vermont was the first state to ban billboards back in 1968.

00:50And since then, 14 more states have followed suit.

00:54But what makes Vermont's ban unique is that it also applies to the rest of the country.

01:00You see, I-91 runs through Vermont.

01:02It's a major highway that connects the states of Massachusetts and Tennessee.

01:06And for a long time, the billboards along this highway were a mess.

01:11There were just so many that it was difficult to see the road.

01:14So in 1968, the state of Vermont passed a law banning billboards along I-91.

01:20The idea was that if billboards were banned in one area, other states would eventually follow.

01:27And that's exactly what happened.

01:29But there's a twist.

01:30While most states eventually passed laws banning billboards, they only applied to the state's borders.

01:36So if you entered Maine from New Hampshire, you wouldn't see any billboards.

01:41But once you were in Maine, you'd start seeing billboards again.

01:44This meant that the ban wasn't really effective because billboard companies just moved their billboards a few miles into the state.

01:52This loophole allowed billboard companies to continue making money off of interstates without restrictions.

01:58But after several lawsuits, it was decided that billboards were, quote,

02:03a public nuisance and a traffic hazard.

02:07And in 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states have the authority to regulate billboards on highways.

02:15Today, 15 states have banned billboards.

02:18But Vermont is still the only state where you won't see any.

02:22Thanks for watching.

02:23We'll see you in the next video.

02:24We'll see you in the next video.

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