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Only a Fool Breaks the Second Rule - Clock

Cometh the hour, cometh a sinister road safety film.

Public Information Filler 1975 1 mins Silent

Overview

The clock strikes death in this sinister road safety spot. As is often the case, this bite-sized public information film borrows from the conventions of another genre: namely, horror, here plundered for doom-laden atmosphere rather than gore. The film is fronted by a deathly man in black coldly intoning the simple but often forgotten two second rule - to make sure you leave sufficient distance between you and the car ahead - to the many foolish mortals watching.

Director John Krish recalls that in the 1970s he himself was affectionately known in the business as Dr Death, on account of the numerous grim safety ads he made for the Central Office of Information. But the driving force of these films was always a humanist one: to save life, not to dwell on destruction. Public information campaigns, like advertising, often saw several films produced with an identical message but slight variation in content: compare this spot with Pile-Up and Hospital, other entries in the Two Second Rule campaign also available on BFI Player.

Original title

Only a Fool Breaks the 2 Second Rule - Clock

Director

John Krish

Genres

Public Information Filler

Country

United Kingdom

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

Road safety

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