“Drinking and Driving” is a 1940s era black-and-white educational film produced for Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company by Traffic Safety Films, Inc. and the Los Angeles Police Department. The film provides a dramatized account of an accident labeled “HBD” — had been drinking. The narrator cautions against that “deadly mixture of alcohol and gasoline” and that such a mixture can lead to death. We see a busy intersection at mark 01:25, where “male and female” drivers, some good and some bad, make their way down the street. Some drivers are described as being “too cautious” (mark 01:45) such as the man creeping along because he’s had too much to drink — only to catch a patrolman’s attention. A sergeant explains at mark 02:35 how one in every six accidents involve a drunken driver as he looks at photos with smashed autos, adding that many drunk drivers are “average normal people who used an intoxicant in moderation and considered themselves perfectly capable of driving a car or walking in front of a car.” At mark 03:10 we watch a simulation of a “drunk” motorist behind the wheel with slowed reflexes, as well as vision and hearing. When drunk driving is suspected, police conduct “careful scientific tests” (mark 04:00) to prove a driver is incapable of driving because of alcohol or some other substance or ailment. The officer also notes that a drunk driver is 55-times more likely to have an accident than a sober driver. Each driver must hold an individual responsibility not to drink and drive, the officer says at mark 05:35, and access their own ability to drive.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
