Welcome to ‘Safetyville,’ Where the Population Is Slowly Dwindling
L.A. Metro’s public safety announcements showcase cartoon characters dying when they ignore protocols to stay alive.
Jimmy opts to take a Metro train to the skate park, ignoring warning signs at the station that skateboarding isn’t allowed. He hits a bump on the platform and careens sideways, losing an arm and a leg to a passing railcar.
That’s just your typical day in Safetyville, the focus of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new cartoon video series addressing common safety pitfalls around railways.
The public safety campaign comes on the heels of Denver’s adoption of the popular Australian “Dumb Ways to Die” cartoon characters , both portraying what would otherwise be gruesome scenes in a more viewer-friendly fashion.
Metro’s “Dismount of dismembered?” video is just the tip of the iceberg:
“We want people to be safe around trains and we think these provocative messages will help riders as they use the services,” Phillip Washington, L.A. Metro’s CEO, said in the announcement. “In the past few months we have expanded the Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa and the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica, places where many people are unaccustomed to interacting with trains.”
Other videos warn residents to stop before the limit line at train crossings, stand behind the yellow line on platforms and never run to catch the train because—as the Safetyville motto states—“Safety begins with you.”
Here’s another, where the unfortunate Mike tries to beat the train and loses.
The most cartoonish of the bunch is “Patient or pancake?”, which is vaguely reminiscent of something that might happen to Looney Tunes’ Wile E. Coyote. The message: Don’t go around lowered safety arms.
Metro officials acknowledged the Melbourne Metro’s 2012 Dumb Ways to Die PSAs as their inspiration.
"We weren't trying to copy them, per se, but wanted to present something that's a little catchier and a little more impactful," Metro spokeswoman Anna Chen told LAist .
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Dave Nyczepir is a News Editor at Government Executive’s Route Fifty and is based in Washington, D.C.
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