The Best and Worst of Road Safety

There seems to be two ways of approaching road safety campaigns. The first revolves around animation and appeals to young children in a friendly and sugar-coated manner.The second targets adults and are generally brutal and realistic.Normally they’re graphic, honest and quite uncomfortable to watch. That is after all their point and it is often the most graphic, the most upsetting ones that are the most memorable – unless of course you rope in a celebrity like Jimmy Saville in this classic from the archives:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECrJaIOcCLsRoad Safety adverts deal with a sensitive subject and as such there are some glaringly bad examples and some fantastic ones available. We analyse the best and worst of them.Just Slow Down 2011This is probably one of the most brutal and over dramatic road safety adverts in existence.It’s not the first to raise the subject of child fatalities on roads but it’s one of few that actually show it and how the family/offending driver deal with it – and that’s after nearly 50 seconds of character development.Undoubtedly the advert is powerful and makes for supremely uncomfortable viewing but perhaps more baffling is the sense of irony that the story develops.The little girl is the only one who isn’t speeding in the advert – her father, brother and the driver are all rushing around yet it’s the girl who’s the victim.The message seems to say the innocent get punished for other people’s mistakes.It’s effective, guilt-inducing stuff but my god, it’s brutal.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5EyOnccJLgJust Like Me – BuzzybeeWith a title like that, you know it’s going to be good.In these two adverts the dichotomies of road safety campaigns become clear; we’ve moved from the obvious shock tactics of the above advert from Canada to the bright and flowery world of Buzzy Bee - the unoriginally named road safety bee.Lancashire Constabulary obviously spent at least £10 on this infuriating advert that features a bee, a European techno soundtrack and some fairly basic animation.It shows a sensible bee explaining the need to make yourself clearly visible, stay safe and ‘stay alive’.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tSC9hvp5RERichard didn’t want to die...This advert from Think! outlining the risks of not wearing a seatbelt was deemed so graphic that it had to be aired after the watershed.It shows ‘Richard’ driving along before crashing into an oncoming vehicle. The film is accompanied by a voiceover that calmly describes what happens during a crash, at which point the focus of the film is switched to the internal organs of Richard and the causes of his demise.There’s also something about the cold voiceover that makes the advert more effective. There’s no feeling it’s just powerful and matter-of-fact – like the visual content.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsp-nrf_8KQKing of the RoadThe King of the Road series of adverts were extremely popular with children and that’s hardly surprising given the charming nature of the hedgehog protagonists, their warm fuzzy animation and the catchy little ditty.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAgxZ-l5pY8They’re simple, clearly outline the correct course of action when crossing the road and will appeal to all children.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnwxN24E2yY&feature=relatedTales of the RoadArgh.Apparently child-orientated road safety adverts can also be dark and grim, as this Tim Burton-inspired series of adverts from the Department of Transport proves.The adverts are shot in dull colours and talk about normal children being able to play sport and be active. Obviously that all changes when they get flattened by a car. After the accident the children are shown as doe-eyed and miserable as they can no longer get involved in normal child activities.The interesting film is also accompanied by a dark, lyrical poem that depicts the adverts events and at one point claims:“Now he can’t swim, dress himself or go-kart, ‘cause his arm is all limp and falling apart."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oUW0DTg7uY&feature=relatedJulie knew her killerAskaprice thinks this is one of the most powerful road safety adverts ever released.That’s because this advert doesn’t deal with what you could do to yourself but instead what you could do to somebody else simply by neglecting your seatbelt.In this instance that somebody else is Julie, and her killer is her son.As well as a powerful message the advert portrays a painfully realistic crash which is fairly unspectacular yet accompanied by a horrible soundtrack and a sickening thud.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstEThink! MotorbikeThis road safety film is perfectly good, conveys a powerful message and a good point but Askaprice is convinced it’s lying.The motorbike is just not there when he first looks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsJs4AYa8sUA better advert is the Now you see him motorbike film. Which doesn’t lie.Embrace LifeThis advert is not only informative, powerful and emotive it’s also well shot, simple and clever.It shows what is presumably a husband and father in a chair in his living room simulating a normal every day drive.In the background are his wife and daughter who when a crash is inevitable jump up and wrap their arms around him – creating a seatbelt and preventing any serious injury.Shot in slow motion, the advert is simple yet extremely powerful and there’s no confusion with regard to the message.Brilliant.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM