The IWM Film Archive is the oldest film archive in the UK, holding over 20,000 hours of film, video and digital material and covering the two World Wars and all conflicts involving British or Commonwealth Forces since the start of the Twentieth Century to the present. Our collection also reflects aspects of civilian life in wartime, military life in peacetime, military exercises and operations.
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Dangers in the Dark
A film directed by Richard Massingham, designed to educate the British public of the perils of travelling in pitch black during a blackout.
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Overview
During the Second World War, blackout regulations were imposed to make it harder for enemy aircraft to find their targets over Britain. This plunged parts of the country into darkness and made travelling by road especially dangerous. It was hoped that the resulting increase in road accidents could be curtailed, by encouraging road users to follow some of the featured safety precautions.
The first four months of the war saw a one hundred per cent increase in road deaths, compared with the previous year. Blackout related injuries, one poll suggests, affected one in five people by January of 1940. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.
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