Stop! Look! Listen! is the latest volume in the BFI's enlightening series of films made by the Central Office of Information (COI), one that takes a look at health, welfare and safety messages for the public.

Cautionary tales, motherly advice, celebrity appearances and shock tactics have all been utilised by the COI over the years to prevent us from being: killed on the road; burnt to death; abducted by strangers; crushed by tractors; drowned at sea and more.

This DVD contains both longer form films and a selection of well-known short public information films and commercials. For today's viewers, they offer a fascinating prism by which to survey changing government health & safety concerns and priorities across decades – with some now-famous faces when they were much younger!

Highlights include: Mind How You Go (1973), with green cross code advice courtesy of Valerie Singleton; Drive Carefully Darling (1975), starring Frank Bough and a stellar cast of ‘numskulls'; Apaches (1977), a massacre on the farm from John MacKenzie, the director of The Long Good Friday; Betcher! (1971), in which a young Keith Chegwin takes on a cycling challenge; Never Go With Strangers (1971), sinister stranger danger advice for children, and Twenty Times More Likely (1979), where Gillian Taylforth's first love ends tragically.

Four of the titles, including Drive Carefully Darling, are directed by the highly esteemed documentary maker John Krish, whose films are a major feature of the BFI's forthcoming post-war documentary project Boom Britain and the DVD box set Shadows of Progress. A Day in the Life: Four Portraits of Post-War Britain by John Krish will be screened at BFI Southbank on Monday 8 November followed by a Q&A and will tour the country.

The COI Collection Volume Four: Stop! Look! Listen! will be released on UK DVD as a 2-disc set by the BFI on 15th November at the RRP of £19.99. Special features include:

• I Stopped, I Looked and I Listened (John Krish, 1975), 16 mins. A trip down memory lane and some road safety advice for the older pedestrian;
• Booklet with introductory essay and contextualising notes on each film.

The full film listing is as follows:

Disc One
Thirty Miles An Hour (1949)
A Moment's Reflection (1968)
Highway Code - Woodenhead (1949)
Too Close For Comfort (1971)
Ending It All (c1970)
Mind How You Go (1973)
Sewing Machine (1973)
Drive Carefully Darling (1975)
Accident in Park Road (1988)
Look Out For Trouble (c1980)
Joe & Petunia – Coastguard (2006 version) (2006)
No Short Cut (1964)
Betcher! (1971)
Magpies – House (1984)

Disc Two
20 Times More Likely (1979)
A Game of Chance (1961)
Apaches (1977)
Lonely Water (1973)
Building Sites Bite (1978)
Never Go With Strangers (1971)
Absent Parents (1982)
Searching (1974)
Every Five Minutes (1951)
Fire Routine (1979)
Andy Lights The Fire (1980)
Drink Drive Eyes (1992)