This is a nine-part video course on defensive driving. Defensive driving defined as “the practice of anticipating dangerous situations, despite adverse conditions or the mistakes of others when operating a motor vehicle.”
The driving course was filmed in Australia in 1973 and used to train drivers for many years afterwards. It’s now been uploaded to YouTube in its entirety for free by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).
Above Video: This is the second film in the series, it’s focused on following other cars at safe distances, allowing the correct amount of space for braking at different speeds and in varying conditions.
Despite the 50+ years that have passed since the series was filmed it remains just as useful today as it would have been back in 1973. We may have more safety systems in our cars nowadays, but we also have more distractions, with smartphones and a proliferation of touchscreens that require people to take their eyes off the road.
Each of the nine films in the series focuses on a specific threat or threats that drivers need to remain vigilant for. The films run at under 10 minutes each and they contain a number of staged crashes to highlight dangers, as well as demonstration of braking distances at different speeds.
One unintended bonus in the films is the huge variety of classic Australian cars you see on the road. They were all modern cars in 1973 of course, but to our eyes now some of these cars would be worth a small fortune and have become a rare sight on pubic roads.
Apart from the Australian cars you’ll see, mostly Holdens and locally developed Fords, you’ll also see various American cars, and cars from Europe and Britain.
Above Videos: This is the third film in the series, it teaches drivers about keeping an eye on the cars behind them, to help avoid getting rear-ended.
Regardless of how long you’ve been driving you’ll almost certainly learn something, or a few things, from these films – and the course may just save you an accident one day in the future. The films were all made by Telemark Productions Pty Ltd on behalf of the Australian Department of Transport.
We’ve included all nine films in the course above and below in sequential order, if you’d prefer to watch the playlist created by the NFSA you can visit the playlist on their YouTube channel here.
All films and images courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA)
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
