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Traffic Safety Film of the Week

Watching this film — narrated by Jimmy Stewart — I couldn’t help but think all those kids shown in the beginning grew up and moved to Brooklyn, where they now drive the same way. And of course, these kids today would be busily texting in their Ritalin order while driving. These kind of traffic safety programs (or driver indoctrination programs?), whatever their good intentions, have shown to have essentially zero effectiveness, and are thus largely a thing of the past.

Via the superb Prelinger Archives.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Traffic safety films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Traffic Safety Film of the Week”

  1. Nancy Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Zero effectiveness? That’s very sad. I still think kids should have Road User Class starting in elementary school. Also, I think safety education must have some effect. My niece got her grandfather to buckle up because she was indoctrinated in elementary school.

    One of my favorite old educational films is “Drive Your Bicycle.”

    http://www.archive.org/details/DriveYou1955

  2. Lucas Says:
    May 30th, 2009 at 7:59 am

    “texting in their Ritalin order” - heheh.

  3. Rich Wilson Says:
    May 30th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    I see this as simply teaching the rules of the road. But I don’t think lack of knowledge of the rules is the problem. There are two kinds of rules- those we follow to stay alive, and those we follow so as to not get a ticket. Everyone knows what the speed limit is, and everyone knows what the cell phone laws are in their state. People speed and talk on the cell phone because they think they can get away with it, and their only motivation is to not get a ticket.

    Less than an hour ago I was driving home with my wife and toddler son. We were doing 45-50 in a 45 zone. A Lincoln Town Car was tailgating us. Car finally passed, and sped away. We ended up beside the car a few lights later. The driver was putting on makeup.

    I’m sure we’ve all seen it before. Obscenely stupid behavior behind the wheel. But if people have the sense that they can get away with it (no ticket, and since they’re an EXCELLET driver they won’t get in an accident) they’ll do it.

  4. John D. Williams Says:
    May 31st, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Hey, if anyone wants a modern view of solutions and driving philosophy, type in “best driver in the world” on a Google search and go to the first place.

    John

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Traffic Tom Vanderbilt

How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.

Please send tips, news, research papers, links, photos (bad road signs, outrageous bumper stickers, spectacularly awful acts of driving or parking or anything traffic-related), or ideas for my Slate.com Transport column to me at: info@howwedrive.com.

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