This highway scare film produced by the Highway Safety Foundation in 1971, “Decade of Death”, is a retrospective of the organization’s 10 years of gory, shocking social guidance films which aimed to promote traffic safety and driver responsibility through the display of bloody and horrific footage of traffic crashes.

Viewers should be advised that the entire video contains bloody and gruesome footage of injured and dead bodies.

(01:14) The narrator explains that for a decade these films have aimed to encourage drivers to avoid mistakes and drive responsibly by showing the bloody footage of car crashes.

(02:00) Footage of children and young adults killed in crashes

(02:55) The films also showed crash victims who were critically injured, the narrator tells the viewers that the victim’s death is imminent

(03:27) The “lucky ones” according to the organization are those who suffered severe injuries

(04:05) Brutal audio of people crying out in pain accompanied the footage

(04:45) Another tactic was explaining the driver’s mistakes in order to impart lessons on drivers

(11:45) Many drivers ignore road signs and are killed as a result

(12:10) And some run red lights and suffer the same fate

(16:20) The narrator explains that speeding leads to diminished control

(19:55) Sometimes a driver’s mistake leads to others’ deaths

(20:45) A 13-year-old on a bike was injured and spent weeks in the hospital

(21:30) The narrator says “the woman driver will remember her victim’s tear-stained face for as long as she lives” while footage shows a 9-year-old being stretchered to an ambulance. According to the Highway Safety Foundation, over 10,000 pedestrians are killed by drivers each year.

(22:58) The film also included footage of parents identifying their deceased children

(23:20) He concludes “We will continue to make motion pictures that shock you, possibly make you ill. We want to reach you, influence your dried habits. We think that’s the best way to make you a better and safer driver, to save your life and someone else’s.”

ֶֶThe Highway Safety Foundation made driver scare films such as “Signal 30,” “Mechanized Death,” and “Highways of Agony” that intended to encourage drivers to drive responsibly and with consideration of the risks and consequences. It was the organization’s belief that crash footage, while horrific, was the best way to convey the importance of driving safely. The group’s founder, Richard Wayman, accompanied the Ohio Highway Safety Patrol to the scene of crashes and was assisted by partners Phyllis Vaughn and Earle Deems. The color, 16mm footage of the crashes was then compiled to make the traffic safety films that brought the organization renown across the United States.

This genre of scare film placed almost all responsibility on the driver and tended to put the blame on the driver for the harm caused to himself or others. Today, many traffic safety organizations also emphasize the role of improving infrastructure and regulations in order to decrease traffic deaths. The U.S. Department of Transportation encourages a “Safe System” approach which consists of 6 elements: Safe Vehicles, Safe Speeds, Safe Roads, Post-Crash Care, and Safe Road Users.

Indeed, highway safety was a major American issue in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, Ralph Nader published *Unsafe at Any Speed* which criticized the lack of traffic safety regulations, in particular he denounced car manufacturers for their lack of attention towards safety. He criticized the idea that safety could be achieved by blaming drivers, which is the backbone of the Highway Safety Foundation’s approach with these films.

During the 1960s, when most of this footage was filmed, many cars didn’t have seat belts and few passengers wore seatbelts when available. Traffic fatalities reached an all-time high of 54,589 in 1972 and were generally close to 50,000 per year throughout the late 1960s. In comparison, 42,795 traffic fatalities were recorded in 2022 in the United States, and the population had increased by over 65% since the 1960s.

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