Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety

In August 1999, Atlanta filmmaker Bret Wood traveled to Mansfield, Ohio to film interviews with Earle Deems and John Domer, two of the few surviving people who made films for the Highway Safety Foundation. The idea had been merely to document the story behind the shocking driver education films produced with the Ohio State Highway Patrol in the 1950s and '60s. Films such as SIGNAL 30, WHEELS OF TRAGEDY and MECHANIZED DEATH had become cult items among film aficionados, but the story of their production remained cloaked in mystery. It became obvious during this visit that a documentary would be required to tell the full story of the "death on the highway" driver's ed film phenomenon.