03rd May 2008
Driver’s Safety Films: Safe Roads
It’s a 1930’s driver’s safety film? Of course it’s made by Chevy! Ah, Jam Handy, you’ve done it again with 1935’s Safe Roads.
When Big Brother crashes Little Brother’s toy trains, Grandpa takes the opportunity to encourage Big Brother to be a safe driver. Of course, he’s trying to correlate train safety to automotive safety, so the analogy gets stretched pretty thin.
Most interesting, Grandpa asserts that, when safety rules are followed, “these modern cars are a lot safer than slower cars of yesterday.” Try to back THAT one up with some statistics. If Fast New Car A and Slow Old Car B are driven by the same person, the fast one is safer? (Maybe if you’re being chased by a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex. Remember Ian Malcolm muttering, “Must go faster!” in the back of that Jeep? If he’d been in a 1935 Chevy, he wouldn’t have been worried at all!)
Of course, the safety recommendation is following the rules, the Chevy advertising is zippy cars. See how hard it is to make driver’s safety films at the same time as advertisements? I wouldn’t have wanted to be the guy who had to write these scripts.
Mostly, sit back and enjoy the lovely vintage shots of a time when trains were the way to travel long distances. Railroad enthusiasts will be in ecstasy. Drivers hoping for driving advice will be disappointed.
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