Red Asphalt

Red Asphalt is a series of instructional driver's education films and videos produced by the California Highway Patrol, known for their graphic depictions of fatal traffic collisions in a shockumentary style.^[1] Horrendously injured and dismembered bodies are shown, typically those of negligent drivers. The original film was produced in 1960,^[2] and four sequels have been produced over the following decades. Over the years, many have questioned whether the film actually has a long-term impact on students' driving.^[3]

Red Asphalt was originally conceived as Californian version of the similar 1959 film Signal 30.^[4] According to The Los Angeles Times, "The original [1960] 16-millimeter black-and-white version of Red Asphalt was compiled from newsreel footage. Screened in driver's education classes at a time when violence was rarely depicted in movies and never shown on TV, its graphic nature immediately turned it into a teenage classic."^[2] Red Asphalt III, produced in 1989, showed "stomach-churning wreckage scenes and images of mangled bodies, crushed skulls and charred flesh."^[5] The fourth version, produced in 1998, was a more "tasteful" affair, focusing on rescuers and family members rather than the original's graphic crash footage.^[2]

The series was criticized in 2006 by the Los Angeles Times for its poor acting and being a "joyless ride" of gruesome images and statistics; the paper called Red Asphalt "the Reefer Madness of driving: Forget trying to reason with teenagers, just scare 'em."^[4]

Installments

• 1960: Red Asphalt
• 1978: Red Asphalt II
• 1989: Red Asphalt III
• 1998: Red Asphalt IV
• 2006: Red Asphalt V

See also

• Signal 30