For something that shouldn't be a laughing matter, public transport safety announcements somehow end up being easy to make fun of.
Los Angeles Metro has released a series of particularly morbid safety videos which all begin in the same way: "It's a beautiful day in Safetyville." Viewers get to know the animated LA citizens, who are given a backstory before they meet a somewhat horrific demise by being crushed, beheaded or mangled by a train.
Reaction to the events the videos portrayed has largely been bemused. One video, titled "Present or pulverised? Safety begins with you" prompted Twitter user @myhairisblue to write "ok in this LA Metro PSA, not only does a guy get dismembered but another guy LOOKS DOWN THEN JUST BOARDS THE TRAIN."
LA Metro isn't the first to cause a stir with safety videos. Metro Trains Melbourne famously released a video in 2012 called "Dumb Ways to Die". The Guardian reported the company's animated safety message uses music and dark humour to warn people against behaving recklessly around trains. According to the video's song, using your private parts as piranha bait is a dumb way to die.
