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Clip description
This advertisement for road safety begins with a cricket match. As Keith Miller bats, the male narrator speaks about concentration as one of his keys to success, with his 'eyes front all the time, or you’re out’. This tip is then applied to road safety as the advertisement illustrates 'doing the right thing’ as a driver or pedestrian – noticing speed signs, slowing down at school zones, ignoring distractions, watching where you’re walking and carefully crossing the road. The narrator employs cricket analogies to reinforce the message. The ad ends with a direct address to camera by Miller who concludes that 'the eyes have it’.
Curator’s notes
The sequence at the end of this clip where a pedestrian gets 'clean bowled’ by a car while racing for a tram uses tight editing, sound effects and images to great effect. We don’t see what happens to the man, but through a quick montage of the parcel he’s carrying, a close-up on his face, a shot of the car and the screech of brakes, the sequence is incredibly powerful.
This technique of not showing the details could still be seen in public awareness advertisements up until the 1980s and 1990s (including ads for speeding and drink driving). However, similar campaigns today tend to be more graphic to convey the same message – for example, many of the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority advertisements in the 2000s.
