Irish Road Safety Ads - or - The Lost Art of Traumatising kids (warning, some are brutal)

May 27, 2023 1:55 PM

AoShin

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17716

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2308

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The ads were so effective, road fatalities fell significantly in the years the ads aired.

However, there were also record complaints about how gruesome the ads were, and they aired all day, so kids would be chilling watching cartoons and then BAM! Trauma!

#Ireland #Drivesafe #Trauma4kidz #themoreyouknow

Back when I was a teenager and young adult I knew a lot of people who felt those things would never happen to them because [insert some magical thinking] or just didn't think that can happen, they do need these types of ads

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

#4

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Is it because you that cover of Sweet Child of Mine doesn’t have a full recording?

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Seriously , in this day and age, why do some people still refuse to wear seat belts?

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Better scared af than cold

3 years ago | Likes 646 Dislikes 7

Wish Matthew Broderick saw these before, ya know

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 2

Good for you Ireland. Teach'em early to drive safe!

3 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

The german way. Thank you Struwwelpeter and the stories that scare kids.

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

My Grandfather was Chief Photographer for a major Arizona paper. He was horrified when accident photos he took hit the front page, because one of the DOAs was cut in half at the waist. The Police Chief told him whatever he may think, that was the most important picture for families to see that day because they didn't have a single road accident for a month following.

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

#4 Dude got the high score

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It's been a long time since I've seen some of these. The one with the school children always stuck with me. We Irish might not be good at many things but we know how to scare the shite out of drivers.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

Kids who were in high school in the US in the mid/late 90's: Green Day's "Time of your life"

3 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 1

*Good Riddance.

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

I too am glad it's gone

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Christ these are brutal. Well acted too. The run of the dad out to the yard..

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Thank you Nils Bohlin, the volvo engineer that created the seatbelt and Volvo that patent it as free use.

3 years ago | Likes 146 Dislikes 1

He didn't invent the seatbelt, it was around long before him. People just didn't use them. What he did is more brilliant, he invented a way for them to be easy to use and more effective in the form of the retractor mechanism.

3 years ago | Likes 28 Dislikes 7

"invented the modern seatbelt" are you happy?

3 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 2

Modern seatbelts have explosive pretensiors and airbags in them. He didn't invent those either.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 22

He invented the "intern seatbelt"

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 2

Tell us, do: what very, very specific phrasing would make your pedantic ass happy?

3 years ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 2

Ah yes, because its pedantic when you don't spew random facts without context. That's like claiming that Elon Musk invented cars. He invented the retractable seatbelt.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 14

We fucking need to do this for mass shootings in the US. We should have fucking billboards with cgi children with at-15 wounds. Better yet show us a real fucking kid who was killed in a mass shooting. Then conservatives will tell us billboards are “woke”.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

#1 I feel like the seatbelt is probably the least important problem in this set of collisions.

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Jesus wept...I'm torn between the brutality and the effectiveness of the message

3 years ago | Likes 508 Dislikes 2

It's aimed at teenagers. Their brains are on a cocktail of hormones so intense its equivalent to being high and makes their brains not reapond well to subtly or logic. So a verbal logical sentence like 'driving fast or without a seatbelt is dangerous and can cause death or permanent injury' sounds like adults in a Peanuts comic. But strong emotive messages get through the noise in their brain and trigger the right response.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Ok but the toddler bowling was a little too much…

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 2

Are they effective, though? How many people that would have done something stupid are actually going to change their behavior because of that video they watched? Without studies on the efficacy, I think they're just traumatizing.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

I feel its a bit overly brutal into being comedic. The second car from the back made me laugh. The car fliping over onto all the kids on the picnic was hilarious. Or maybe something is wrong with me.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 22

It's very Bloodhound Gang's "I hope you die" lyrics, yeah.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The over the top nature actually does probably reduce its impact. The Extended Parallel Processing Model tries to capture the effect of fear on decisions, and over-the-top violence can make an outcome seem less likely. I think they also focused too much on the threat and not enough on the solution, but that might just be me - https://www.healthcommcapacity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Extended-Parallel-Processing-Model.pdf

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The accidents can be way more brutal than this in real life. In real life you don’t just get tossed around in a car and then die, your arm tears from your torso and you fly out the window and spread your brains on the pavement. These are tame compared to real life. :( These just give you a small taste of what could actually happen. We hide ourselves from the reality of just how bad things can get and these commercials help people see that reality.

3 years ago | Likes 24 Dislikes 1

People should not be shielded from the fact that the high speed metal boxes they sit in every day are all potential death machines. A moment of distraction or lapse of judgement can end or change your life, the lives of innocents strangers and those you love forever. If they make you fearful of getting in one. Good.

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

I saw the adorable little girl in #4 and immediately chose not to watch it

3 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 2

It's not just for others. It's for you too. Please being selfish and do what's best for you. Imagine being a 24 y.o. and ran over 3 kids. All because you were using your phone in school zone. You life is FUCKED.

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

So powerful. The US needs these

3 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

What? No! There's nothing more American than making choices under complete ignorance of the consequences. It's like you *want* people to be informed!

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

My US driver's ed class just showed us footage of actual fatal car wrecks.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

The us needs these for guns, first.

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

I am in nearly complete agreement with you. If kids are learning shooter drills, trauma first aid from the STOP THE BLEED campaign, we absolutely need them for guns. I think we also need them for all of the topics covered here.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Hear, hear.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Smells like isekai

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

We had an ad in Denmark some years ago where a child on the backseat without a seatbelt headbutts their parent in the front seat to death...

3 years ago | Likes 160 Dislikes 0

I remember that one. Same vibe as these

3 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

We had one in Germany where some dipshits were screwing around a the scene of a severe car accident. Made selfies, stood in the way of rescuers, etc. Then one of them tried to call their mom, and a phone somewhere on the ground went off.

3 years ago | Likes 130 Dislikes 0

Sounds like that had more to do with Germany's problem with rubber-necking than road safety.

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It‘s was not an ad though, it was a short film. But nonetheless here is the link to the project : https://youtu.be/nRmuaVPiodI

3 years ago | Likes 80 Dislikes 0

Ouch. I didn't need to see that, But i needed to see that,

3 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

Holy fuck, that's brutal.

3 years ago | Likes 34 Dislikes 0

That's chilling. Wow.

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Wow, that's actually really well done.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Anish Kapoor would like a word…

3 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Mind explaining?

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Jesus Mother Mary and Joesph, these are fookin fab!

3 years ago | Likes 33 Dislikes 2

Did anyone else just burst out laughing with #4? The car came busting through that wall like a rampaging kool-aid man.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

I think there's something wrong with me. I found them all funny. I couldn't take the over the top depictions seriously. Ultimate shit posting. Like watching robot chicken.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

OH YEAAAAAAAH!

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Absolutely. My wife asked from across the house what I was laughing at. Just the suddenness combined with the squashed “children” is fucking comedy gold.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

There's the comment! Bollywood got nothing on that. /s

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

OK the flattened class of schoolkids it so hilariously over the top I lost it for a second there.

3 years ago | Likes 54 Dislikes 3

Or the fact those cars seem to be crashing through fences like the Kool Aid Man.

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

The fact they follow it up with shame on you fucking slays me

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Have you seen the version where it's overdubbed with "Rules Of Nature"?

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I'd have believed it was parody

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 2

3 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

We need these in America, but for the aftermath of shootings. People need to see the horrific aftermath. Maybe those sick little fuckers would stop wearing AR-15 pins.

3 years ago | Likes 487 Dislikes 11

It wouldn't work. The reason this ad is effective is because seatbelts actually save lives

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 14

The buckets of children should be front page every time it happens

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

We had anti-terrorism ads too, https://youtu.be/zm8AX3pfwDs?t=923 If the timestamp doesn't work, it starts at 15.23, needs sound on to really carry the story. It's one I still remember 30 years after first seeing it. The one before it, at 14.05, is another but I didn't remember it & don't think it hits as hard.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

How about both? And stop building our communities to require so much goddamn driving. Cars are still the #1 killer of children in the USA (actual children, not 19 year old "children")

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 5

And the fuel emissions poisoning the air. And our obesity problem. It would really solve multiple problems at once

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

It's not the cars, it's the driver. It's not the rifles, it's the shooter.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 2

It wouldn't work on the knuckle-dragging classes

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

My god yes. There would be SO many complaints but we NEED ads like this for gun control. They would work so well. Shootings are so common now that people detach themselves from the consequences.

3 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Oh my sweet summer child, that would embolden them and say we all need to have guns so we can be Superman and save the day!

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

If they were capable of empathy they wouldn't be Republicans.

3 years ago | Likes 152 Dislikes 10

Or Christians

3 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 3

We need them for cars too. Honestly worldwide we just need way less cars and car focused bullshit. And that's about as likely in America as anything being done about guns. Why do I stay here? Oh right cause I can't afford to leave.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Now do gun ads like this in the U.S.

3 years ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 2

These work. These save lives.

3 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

Not really, what actually works is a built environment to slow drivers down, and to not require so much goddamn driving in the first place. And not insane vehicles like the current fleet of brodozer pickups.

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 10

Yes, that helps e.g. against speeding, but doesn’t protect against noncompliance such as drunk driving, texting while driving, and not wearing seatbelts. No matter how few people use tiny cars at low speeds, these are still big concerns.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Drastic measures work when there is no other alternative.

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

These specific ads definitely worked, the results can be seen in the traffic fatality rates in Ireland the years they aired.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That's some Final Destination-level shit, right there. Especially the classroom kill!

3 years ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

He nailed the strike

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Itd be awkward having to come back to pick up the spare.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

MULTI-KILL!

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 1

Im probably going to hell, but that one kinda made me laugh. It was just that over the top.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I'm for ads like this if it makes people talk and think. Reminds me of the work safety ads run in Canada years ago.

3 years ago | Likes 38 Dislikes 0

But then they see an add for a bro-dozer pickup truck and they buy the auto maker propaganda hook line and sinker and run over kids anyway.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Fork lift training, electrical (NEN3140) training, they all had multiple videos. Always with 1 video where the instructor is required to ask whether you actually want to see it because it gets gruesome. They work, even though they aren't half as brutal as what's shown here.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

This is pretty brutal https://youtu.be/kOk2Akqb3CI

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Ho lee shit. That was actually aired on public television? I'm a grown ass man and those hit me in the feels. Had I seen these things 25 years ago, I'm sure there'd have been some nightmares.

3 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 2

Been running stuff like this in NZ for a while. Some are so uncomfortable i change the channel

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

We certainly did, it worked. Also, I put those songs on a cd for my bro when he got his first car. Worked to keep him from messing around on the road.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Holy Shit! I think these damn things traumatized me. I'mma out, time to see if I have any smoke around.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The music sticks with you too, so whenever I hear the song it reminds of the trauma lol. I don't think we have these type of adverts anymore, nothing as graphic anyways.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Pretty sure they were pre watershed (before 9pm). #5 is the one that gets me. The young girls scream and the dad sprinting and crying over his son

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yes. That is without doubt the worst for me.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I never imagined i'd be this happy that there are several houses between the yard where my kids play and the road.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

We had tough ones for fireworks in the Netherlands. These are reasonable, but the next is more grewsome. 1)

3 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

The more traumatizing ones worked better than the 'funny' or cute ones. ("Thanks to this short fuse I finally have a dog" (a guide dog).

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

1996

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Compare that to the ones our government uses now. Current ones are soft

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

HNNNG why is that third one different.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

They are all three bodypart replacements. But with the one, there are options on eye colour. You eve get to choose.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Ach nonsense, you can choose hand colours too.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0