DEATH ZONES - '70s Educational Bus Safety Video (Part 1)

[@Moonshooter1]

I had to watch this in school at least twice between 1981 and 1984. It's haunted me all my life. Can't believe it's still out there. Thanks for posting!

[@JustJason1977]

I always thought this was hilarious! I liked "Mary Malone's" story about never working at McDonald's AGAIN!!! CUZ SHE WAS MURDERED BY A SCHOOL BUS!!!!

[@MetaMarcy21]

Same! This is so great. The most terrifying film experience of my childhood, surpassing even sneaking and watching Nightmare on Elm Street.

[@krassos]

Ditto.

[@angellmariaaxoxo24]

I’m glad they didn’t show me this as a kid it would’ve traumatized me 😭 I didn’t even know all this could happen 🤭🤭 then again I was born in 97 they didn’t show us these old videos for whatever reason

[@devastator5607]

Yes, I watched this in 84 or 85 wen I was in elementary school! Watched in the gym with 4 or 5 other classes. Don't know why I thought about this and haven't seen this in like 36 years!!

[@jillianthompson4193]

For the longest time, I thought this was perhaps a repressed nightmare of my childhood. Thank you so much for posting all three parts of this emotionally-scarring video and validating what I now remember to be an annual part of our elementary and junior high repertoire. Unlike little Mihi Kwon here (and all the other victims of The Death Zone) I can now begin to pick up the pieces of my broken-ass life and rebuild from where it was originally run over flat. God bless you all.

[@megancarroll]

100%!!!!!!

[@lorikane2124]

Omgosh! It’s not at all funny but you are hilarious! I think that’s just a Gen X quality! We make lemons out of lemonade. Good Lord, this video gave me my first nervous breakdown. I was 8 years old. I was robbed at gunpoint at 9 years old and it had NOTHING on this. I got over it but wow. I understand where they were going with this, but please… don’t show this to little kids. That’s just cruel.

[@po9318]

I saw this in grade school as well and have just now "gotten my wings" as a school bus driver, driving solo now. If I had been in Frank's shoes, I would NOT have moved the bus while dealing with the discipline problem or else I would have double checked everything before moving the bus over to the shoulder and dealing with the discipline issue there. I worked on the railroad for three years in maintenance of way and I did get out on the trains a little bit as well. And one of the cardinal rules there was that when you moved a piece of equipment, you gave your undivided attention to that and that alone, everything else got zoned out, no matter what it is. Discipline issues are secondary and can be dealt with in a stopped bus. Especially with small children, we must expect the unexpected. Of course, it's easy to talk and say these things until you've walked another mile in the other guy's shoes. Frank was indeed paying attention and doing everything he was supposed to be doing until the little girl did the unexpected. Feel sorry for the guy, he did every thing he could right and the accident was deemed not to be his fault, but he's still the guy that has to live with that and have nightmares about it regardless.

[@po9318]

As an addition to my post above from a couple of years ago when I was just starting out as a rookie school bus driver, I now hav a couple of years of experience under my belt and just today I had a little boy do the exact same thing that this little girl did. Same type of situation, he had to cross the road, I waved him across, on the way he dropped a pen which I did not notice. He was safely across and then he darted back in front of the bus to retrieve his pen. Fortunately, I was not distracted like Frank was in this clip, my full undivided attention was on this boy and I was nowhere near putting the bus into gear and me being it. I will be having a talk with this young man regarding this situation when I see him again day after tomorrow.

[@angelprincess6879]

This series of videos scarred me as a kid. They started showing them to us in kindergarten and made us each them each year. It twisted me up in knots having to watch this and worrying about having to watch it over and over again. Eventually my mom to me excused from having to keep going to bus safety and see this stuff. No horror movie has ever scared me as much as these videos did.

[@ryanmurray8562]

I was shown this in elementary school in the early 80s and I NEVER forgot it.

[@MetaMarcy21]

Ryan Murray Same!!

[@smp5120]

Wow

[@sarahmeadows4322]

Same!!!!

[@MrMarksdaddy]

It's been about 36 or 37 years since I saw this one. I was in the third grade, circa 1977-1978 when they showed this to us in assembly.

[@gregoryhammer7061]

They should still show kids this. I remember as well watching the film reels and this was welded into my head for life. It should never be banned for its graphic content. Kids nowadays watch a lot worse and there are far more distractions today then in my childhood. I'm more alert for my kids and other children's safety because of these films. Thanks for posting.

[@christopherscottb]

I saw this in 1976 in first-goddamned-grade. I was horrified. The last part in particular, where the chick slips from the snowbank and gets run over, disturbed me intensely for years. But I guess it had its intended effect. I was a lot more cautious around school buses after that. Hell, I didn't want to get within 800 miles of the goddamned things.

[@bluestarlight8703]

christopherscottb Same!!

[@tommutchler2939]

My goodness yes! Same with me. The teachers suddenly shut off the video before the part where the snowbank victim dies. This messed with my head for a long time.

[@christopherscottb]

@@tommutchler2939 Well, I wish my teachers had done that, but we all watched it in the gymnasium and saw every disturbing second.

[@megancarroll]

SAME!!!!! The voice over too wtf

[@lorikane2124]

I’m so glad I’m not alone. Thought I was a freak for being so messed up over it. Still to this day watching it screws me up. Guess everyone else in my class watching with no problem were serial killers. 😳

[@JJKoester]

The omniscient narrator who has no power to stop it makes this ten thousand times more haunting.

[@tsteeleosuou]

For years I wondered what that movie was I saw with the little girl getting run over for dropping her valentine. It haunted me forever. I can't even remember how old I was when I saw it.

[@Tondars]

These are dark and get progressively darker. Rodney Ascher should do a 90 min documentary about this glimpse into the void.

[@emilymayer5500]

No wonder Gen X is so tough. We were spared no mercy. I remember seeing these in elementary school and never forgot them. If you think these are bad, in high school we were shown films of Holocaust victims and it was even worse. But they taught lessons whether we liked them or not. Today, you wouldn't believe the a$$holes that blast right by a bus when the red lights are flashing and it is stopped. Quite frankly, those doing so should be given hard prison time for 5 years, no time off for good behavior. As far as not allowing kids today to see these films, what they see on TV and the Internet is far worse. Let's also not forget the bus driver-they are traumatized, too, when an accident occurs.

[@truckerray7533]

I remember watching these in the early 80's in Junior High School. The one where the little black boy went back after the one remaining book under the bus & he got run over on the left side always bothered me the most for a couple 2-3 years. Every time I would enter the bus early in the mornings for school, i would always look down the right side of the bus at the back wheels. They would spook me, lol. Good to see these films are out on KZbin. I hope they are still shown in schools across the country today.

[@imspangies]

Rodney Leonard they're too much for school's today, but I found these today and made my kid watch them and she said this explains so much mom lol

[@chuck7190]

They used to play these on local public access back in the 80's in my home town. I loved watching these when I was a kid. I was a messed up kid. I used to laugh my butt off.

[@DaimosZ]

I mean they are so poorly acted and over the top you can't help but laugh at the cringe though I can see why schoolkids from the era got kiddie-PTSD from this MST3K worthy short.

[@sarahmeadows4322]

Omg. They showed us this movie on the first day of kindergarten in 1986. I was terrified to ride the bus after that. We lived on a steep hill and I was always scared the driver would roll over me. I’m nearly 40 and the film still makes me queasy. Can’t believe it’s out there!

[@nikerailfanningttm9046]

One thing I remember about growing up was watching this in school in 1980 when I was in public school. I loved the buses of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, they had great styles.

[@msTwenty100]

These days we are not allowed to use another student to be a bus patrol, but we have to rely solely on the training we give our kids and believe me that is risky because little ones forget very easily. If they drop something they automatically bend down to pick it up, so we cannot take our eyes off of them for even a second or we may not notice them bend down or reach under the bus! I have learned to insist that parents of KG kids meet me at the bus stop to help me train them in loading/unloading and to never pick up a dropped item but to yell for help from the bus driver. It is a stressful job! 9 out of 10 bus drivers care very much about our students because we too are parents. We spend time with these kids all year and sometimes the same kids year after year and we get to know them, so the thought of any of them getting hurt is incomprehensible!! I give it my all to be as cautious and alert as possible and keep all of them safe, even from strangers hanging around the bus stops and other hazards in our modern, dangerous world. These days our training is much more intense, covering subjects like active shooters and sex traffickers, and i am always thankful for the safety re-training we get every year and how it is continually improving. God bless all school bus drivers and trainers ❤ May every trip be a safe one! P.S. I have collected art work and other small gifts and cards from my kids for years now (even had to stop saving it for the sake of storage space), so yeah, they mean a lot to me. All children are special and precious!

[@kayseecoward7571]

I remember watching this in the 1st grade (16 years ago) and it scared me to death, even though I didn't ride the bus on a regular basis (I only rode it on field trips and to an enrichment center a couple of times a week, my mother drove me to and from school most of the time) It truly scarred me for life, needless to say the film did its' job (for me at least)

[@msTwenty100]

Better to be scared to death than to actually be killed!

[@kayseecoward7571]

@@msTwenty100 touché

[@christophercrafter2609]

I tear up each time I watch this. It's definitely a grim warning for any school bus driver and it serves as a reminder that all it takes is one false move and one mistake. I know for a fact that no one wants to hear the driver's excuses or recap. Once a child gets hurt or killed then it's a wrap. A wrap for the family and friends of that child.

[@laurieford6373]

I remember seeing this in 4th grade and being affected by it.

[@kateSullivan3927]

Who needs a horror movie when you can just go to school and watch this?

[@MaggieKeizai]

Ahhhh, such a classic! I remember we had to watch this every year in elementary school. The first time, everyone was all messed up over the squishy end of Mary Malone. In subsequent viewings, everyone was laughing about it. That background music they played in that segment has been an earworm my whole life.

[@Tanner_Shelton]

I found a 16mm reel of this at an antique mall, I'll edit this comment once I've actually watched it

[@bigwillietheb]

Wow I have not seen this film since 1982 I was in 3rd grade & it was on a film projector wow 32 years, & they made this film in 1975 hell I was only 1 year old & I am 40 now man how time flies

[@bradcook8640]

Omg. I remember watching this in school. When it ended the teachers apologized for what seemed like hours. They could tell we were all traumatized. I had never forgotten the name and its been at least 25 years. I remember like yesterday "little Mihi will never make another valentine again."...that and the girl slipping down the snow bank. Kids nowadays with their safe spaces and trigger warnings just don't know.

[@doctorfeinstone6524]

Brad I was all on board with you until you started spouting off about your trigger warnings and safe spaces horseshit. try learning a thing or two about real life instead of what fucks news tells you

[@magicman5318]

+Doctor Feinstone No, kids with safe spaces and trigger warnings are being SHELTERED from reality. They are pampered and taught to be weak and helpless. Don't get mad at him for telling the truth, moran.

[@imspangies]

Yea they didn't fook around back then. they essentially told us.... that's what you get

[@NB-gu9rs]

Dumbass, if you were traumatized, you PROBABLY COULD HAVE BENEFITED FROM A WARNING. It's not some effort to censor your Sacred Free Speech or anything, it's a way to keep people who have genuine goddamn PTSD from having actual fucking medical issues. God, the alt-right's fucked people's brains up. -_-

[@ssimon64]

@@NB-gu9rs You mock freedom of speech really? Dumbass. You millenials and your disdain for the bill of rights is astonishing. All too willing to give up your rights just so we don't offend anybody! For god sakes! That's the most important thing in the world! We better not OFFEND ANYBODY! We can let our rights that people fought and died for fall by the wayside as long as we don't OFFEND ANYBODY! Fucking grow up!

[@rslitman]

Wow! Filmed in my hometown, where I recognize some of the places. I was already an adult when this was made, so I never saw it. But I did take the bus to one of the schools mentioned in the credits about a decade earlier. On the other hand, the weather in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland, is not like this approaching Valentines Day.

[@scottlarson1548]

This was a classic in 1970's elementary school! Every kid knew this film so well that our school put a yellow paint line on the asphalt next to the parked school buses and labeled it, "Death Zone". Now that I see it again, why the hell did Frank the bus driver decide to start driving when he wasn't looking out the front windshield?

[@crassenti]

Thank you for posting these. I was shown this video, as a serious safety lesson, when I was 10 - in 1990 so less and they scared the living crap outta me. For the longest time I thought maybe I made it up but here they are. I'm hoping new generations of kids aren't still being traumatized by these pointlessly upsetting safety videos

[@ryanbrookes9903]

I watched this in the early 80s as well. Never forgot! Yes, it's over the top, but the fact that I still remember...pretty effective.

[@tadetayo61]

Do you notice the kids singing the banana splits theme song in the video?

[@abercrom21guy]

This video scared the piss out of me in 1984 when we had to watch this is assembly

[@thomasbryan2427]

I remember watching this at least twice in elementary school and that was in the late 90s early 2000s. I just now found out this was from the 70s.

[@maineboy1979]

OMG... my elementary school was still showing this in the late '80s and early '90s. My class watched it when I was in third grade and it scared the crap out of everybody! Everyone was like "I'm never riding the bus ever again!" lol

[@Maestrohbill]

Wow, does this stir up the memories. I saw this at Northview Elementary School in Rantoul, Illinois in the autumn of 1978, when I was in the fourth grade. It was.....HEA-vy. My ADD was strong enough that while I could remember Mary's name (3rd video), I couldn't remember why it was she died. They at least didn't show it too awful graphic. Of course, then I went to see "Jaws" and rooted for the shark, so....

[@kelliyvonne]

Omg 😳 they would show this to us in school in the early 80’s I was like in the 5th or 6th gr and rode the bus lol 😂 living in Wisconsin the snow warnings in this film use to scare us the fear sliding down a snowbank under the bus was like horror to us lol KZbin is awesome thanks for posting this

[@pandastylearmy5938]

it had to have been part of a large social experiment...i remember the bus that year...we were freaken quiet and completely still all year. then a teacher said that the bus drivers had told him that there had never been a quieter bus.....so, i guess not every school saw this little gem. it was very scary. haha

[@frankgualtieri7243]

I remember this in the late 70's and also remember being bothered by it. But you know what? It achieved its intended purpose. Fear is a great motivator.

[@Alpha8713]

Gene Starbecker (the director) is the Orson Welles of school-bus-safety and driver-education films. Look him up--he made hundreds of them.

[@RazorFoxDV]

When I saw this film back in about 1987, I thought it was a documentary, and that they'd filmed a kid's death for the sake of a safety video. Haunted me for years!

[@hellenferguson5771]

OMG 👀 this is the video that I have been searching for, that i remember distinctly from a lyceum in the early 80s!!!! It scared me for so long!

[@TrentonWade]

Damn this movie terrified me as a child smh

[@glorifiedng]

I saw something similar when I was in elementary school. I forget the year but it was on an reel to reel projector, and with a synchronized sound. I remember seeing kids cry and get upset... The one thing i clearly remember is when a student holds a white mouse by the tail in front of the bus driver while driving she "faints" and the camera spins and it looks like splashes of blood everywhere. maybe there is another series out there or more parts to this? or a follow up?

[@Samsquamsh]

Remember everyone: Life is a wonderful thing, a great adventure... For those who are alive.

[@lorikane2124]

This video seriously messed my head up. in 3rd grade. Maybe I was headed for anxiety and depression anyway, but this sure as hell didn’t help. I was inconsolable for 3 months after this. I’m Gen X and I’m tough but damn. Worst video (or Reel to Reel ..whatever!) EVER! Any kid in my class who wasn’t disturbed by this must have ended up a serial killer. My daughter recently asked me what my childhood trauma was and honestly couldn’t think of anything. And then.. I remembered and I told her. THIS!! Guess I repressed it! Please never show this to children

[@donaldnelson2097]

I wish buses have special robots underneath the bus for picking up dropped papers & school books under the bus so kids will be safe

[@74Spirit1]

I actually had seen this(and the other two parts)when I was in Elementary School in the early 1980's. And at the time, I had already survived a bus accident.

[@mickboogie8395]

I can't believe that they show this to me in second grade. Nothing scared me more back then, not Freddy, not Jason, not chucky. Nope, bus safety videos were my true horror movies.

[@sarahmeadows141]

Oh my gosh. We had to watch this when I was in kindergarten in 1986. I was TERRIFIED to ride the bus after that because my house was on a hill where the bus stopped.

[@megancarroll]

This series is why I SCREAM when my kids play on a snowbank

[@amymarks1049]

these are amazing..I remember watching these in Jr. High.

[@Cz84853]

They don’t do these briefings anymore. Sad

[@aesgaard41]

These aren't the school bus safety videos I saw in my youth. The one I recall was much more gory: a driver passes out from a mouse hung from of her face and a boy with an open switchblade impales several others. I think it was more of a punishment for our behavior than a lesson on safety, but it sure scared me!

[@aesgaard41]

+Pilgrim UCC Grafton I can't find the video, but there is a link for it here: www.kindertrauma.com/?p=21941

[@doctorfeinstone6524]

it was called "and then it happened"

[@Nodd18]

Yup, those were the ones I saw in elementary school as well. Both those videos scared the bejeezus out of me. Found them: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mp7cmq2CjLqrqq8

[@arcoins]

Had to watch ...And Then It Happened" in kindergarten in 1979, and the bus going into the lake and the other hitting an ambulance haunted me for years. Watched it again as an adult 40 something years later, and I was surprised at how much detail I had remembered as a little kid.

[@aesgaard41]

@@arcoins I think I saw it earlier than that. Maybe 1975-1976 when I was in grammar school -

[@Keaton0801]

Wow this takes safety too far, this is how to make kids shit themselves. They won't learn anything from this. But that is classic 70's.

[@gregoryhammer7061]

Keaton0801 and you must be a classic moron with no kids

[@imspangies]

I watched it when I was 6 in school. I learned that you don't play on the bus if you like breathing.

[@christopherscottb]

Oh no, we *learned* all right, but the bastards didn't have to inflict emotional scars to do it! This disturbed me horribly for years. I'd still love to punch in the mouth whatever sonofabitch decided to inflict this on me and the rest of us. Seriously, my brain tortured me with these images for *years* afterward.

[@lorikane2124]

No. Seriously. I did almost shit myself. Awful. SMH

[@donaldnelson2097]

And we're also in the future too

[@kostibulished]

Stay away from the twilight zones.

[@zelmo73]

Can someone please help me track down the name & artist of the “Country Lady” song played during Act 3 of this movie where the young lady is run over by the school bus while horsing around with her school buddies before falling under the bus. This is a really beautiful song and I can’t find it anywhere. Thank you!

[@MaggieKeizai]

try using shazam or something?

[@lorikane2124]

Omg NO! Are you nucking futz? Worst $hit EVER!

[@kelsey1406]

I remember seeing a more modernized version of this in elementary school. I cried and cried and cried.

[@bananapower722]

Kelsey what is it called?

[@kelsey1406]

@@bananapower722 Trouble Spots. Same production company, it was produced in 1991 and I can’t find it anywhere.

[@razvandobos9759]

Those kids are Gen X’ers

[@MetaMarcy21]

“so you won’t slip under the wheels if you fall...” Yikes.

[@angelahudson1568]

7yrs old in 2nd Grade! Younger People did NOT believe me when I asked if they had seen any FILM like this while in school. Thought I made it up?!? Wtf? Why would a person want to Make This Scary AF Stuff Up

[@stevencroson4666]

This is a very good film….Too bad there are so many glitches in this, though.

[@HD-fd7tn]

Well that escalated...

[@geomatthew8668]

I like how they made it the girls fault like

[@alfox2730]

Yep!! Traumatized

[@paul6925]

I'm trying to track down a bus safety video I watched around 1980. It I shows a bus wheel slowing running over a kids foot and then cuts to a banana being squished. It also had vivid slow motion scenes of crash test dummies flying through the air in a bus crash test. It was bloody horrible for an 8 year old to watch. Anyone know the one I mean?

[@MaggieKeizai]

I only WISH we'd been shown that one. Hope you find it!

[@paul6925]

@@MaggieKeizai it was terrifying lol. I was kinda wimpy 😂

[@KCDash4400cw]

My mom saw this back in the 80s

[@Westsoid2009]

Almost sounds like Vincent Price narrating.

[@martin7464]

I never drew a picture for Samecial. :D 0:14

[@anitasatterlee732]

Recorded 1974 then posted 40 years later. What the fuck killed the kid?

[@davidparkes7741]

The F did I just watch? Lol.

[@BabbaIsKool]

I remember seeing this 8 years ago 😐 I did not get scared from it, cause I'm a weird child, now I'm 14.

[@SquishyZoran]

This is probably a stretch but is there a recording of the song in part 3 anywhere?

[@robertclark4929]

Guy is way too old to be driving.

[@pamelah4125]

"Remember. Life is a wonderful thing. A great adventure. FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALIVE."

[@iMatti00]

🎞 @7:38 ~ Bravo. Bravo. The cinematography and acting deserve Oscars. Marvelous. Lol