This vintage traffic safety film “When You Are a Pedestrian” was produced by Progressive Pictures based in Oakland, California. The film is quite gruesome and unnecessarily graphic, and definitely falls into the “scare film” genre. It opens with images of a pedestrian hit by a Chevrolet Fleet Master as he steps into the street (:41). Two officers open the back door of the ambulance pulling an injured man from it on a stretcher (:49). The narrator mentions the injured man is himself. He is checked out in the hospital by nurse and doctor (:55). The blanket is draped over him and he is pronounced dead (1:08). Statistics over fatalities and injuries resulted from automobile accidents is heard (1:09). Images of automobile wrecks follow (1:14). Two deceased children (1:27) lie immobile from being run over by a car. A newspaper photograph of a driver thrown from his vehicle and killed is pictured (1:47). A stream of pedestrians cross at an intersection as cars attempt to cut in-between (2:07). A traffic cop raises his arms in signal (2:25). Pedestrians wait on the sidewalk (2:32). A man is hit as he steps from the curb too early (2:42). A man looks both ways prior to crossing a section without signal (2:56). An animation provides instruction on how to properly cross (3:02). Ground footage captures a man changing course midway through the section (3:34). He is nearly hit by a sleek black Chevrolet Stylemaster (3:38). Jay walking is demonstrated (4:03) as one of the more hazardous methods of crossing. A mother leads a child across the street incorrectly (4:17) instilling dangerous traffic crossing habits in her daughter. A soft top Oldsmobile (4:25) runs in front of the pair. They run to a kitchen ware shop (4:29). Youth are taught traffic safety (4:36) through the school system. A group of kids play baseball in the street (5:05). Statistics are heard of injury and death from this sort of practice (5:11). A mid 1940’s Cadillac (5:11) runs through the game. A young boy watches a Hansen’s ice delivery truck (5:15). He sneaks onto the back of the truck as the driver slips into the front seat (5:21). A pedestrian slips into the blind spot of a car as they cross the street (5:39). Safe crossing is demonstrated in a diagram (5:51). An old GM metropolitan bus (6:06) stops at a bus stop. A woman steps from the bus and crosses immediately in front of it (6:12). She is nearly hit. A view from a vehicle (6:16) traces old cars and city shops along the sidewalk. A driver in a parked car swings his door open (6:20). The point of view car bounces on it’s brakes (6:22). The narrator explains exiting on the curb side while parked is safest using a 1946 Mercury Sedan Coupe (6:28). A pedestrian crosses mid-block (6:35). A view follows from a moving car as the pedestrian exits mid-block (6:49). A man wanders down a rural highway as a Chevrolet Stylemaster drives by (6:59). Another walks incorrectly, with his back facing approaching traffic (7:16). A child runs in front of a car in a neighborhood (7:26). An animation shows the same incident (7:36) as the vehicle brakes in time. Another demonstration shows the girl hit as the driver is unable to brake in time (7:40). A woman and her dog cross the street (7:45). Headlights run down busy city streets (7:52) in the night. Dark footage shows a pedestrian in the street (8:24) barely visible in dark clothing. The same woman is pictured in light clothing on the street at night (8:39). Scenes from a traffic court (9:09) shows the wife of the injured man awarded monthly payments. The End (9:28).

Motion picture films don’t last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we’ve worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies — including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you’d like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below.

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