Safety on public transport is important. That comes across very clearly in these safety PSAs for the Los Angeles Metro. The question remains — do these ads do too good of a job in scaring people to be safe on and around the Metro? Because they really put several stick figures through the wringer for not watching out.
Take for example stick figure Mike in the above PSA, entitled “Careful or crushed?” “Mike thinks his car is fast enough to beat the train!” narrates a jaunty female voice. The animation then sees a train hit Mike’s car, and poor Mike goes halfway through his passenger-side window. “Uh oh! Looks like Mike’s joyriding days are over!” the female voice intones happily. To add insult to injury, Mike got himself killed during “a beautiful day in Safetyville.”
Mike isn’t the only one, though. If you skateboard on the platform like Jimmy, you’ll hit a rock and land straight into the front of the approaching Metro.
Joan pays for her smartphone addiction by getting hit by a train because she didn’t stay behind the yellow line. What’s especially cold is how another passenger simply walks past Joan’s body and onto the train.
Here’s Martin trying to cross in front of a train onto the other platform.
And here’s Jose’s violent death, all because he was focused on his upcoming job interview.
And Jack comes to regret stopping for coffee before trying to catch the train.
It’s true that these safety ads are a little extra, but Metro is trying prevent real accidents from happening again, like when a driver derailed a Metro train last year after accidentally turning right in front of it. Hopefully the jarring nature of these ads don’t traumatize people too much. Or turn them off of taking the train in LA, which sorely needs more public transport.