That's because we have roads that make inattention deadly. The shortest journey that covers the ground between two of our state capital cities
is Adelaide to/from Melbourne, 728 km (452 mi) of which 504 km (313 mi) is on single carriageway with trees on either side in many locations and shared with
B-Doubles. I've seen some pretty stupid driving from all angles (as a cyclist, driver and public transport user) but I have to say the first time I drove on the Dukes Highway towards Melbourne was the scariest driving experience by far, and I was exhausted before our morning tea stop because that much concentration is needed.
The trick is to make it as scary as possible without showing an actual impact. Then you can show it during programs in family hours so that you're targeting people who have yet to learn bad habits. It's working, because the number of fatalities from crashes with young drivers involved is becoming a smaller slice of the yearly fatal crash totals in South Australia.
It works, I was in the car when my with my six year old cousin when my uncle drove across the level crossing a couple of seconds after the lights and bells came on (a few seconds before even the gates start lowering) and was privy to an interesting discussion - mostly a lecture - between them about level crossings, road safety and stopping distances. What was really funny is that he's the head engineer for front steering, suspension and brakes at Ford in Australia, getting a lecture about stopping for hazards from his daughter!
Not all our ads are the scary type, some of them use wit like
this one pitched at motorcyclists or the recent
campaign around drugs which I think missed the mark a bit.
The upshot of all this is that the focus on younger people in safety campaigns is very deliberate. Older people have already learned bad habits and are not going to un-learn them easily, or assume that just because they haven't come unstuck yet that it's okay to dismiss it all as "elf 'n safety gone mad." It's just a pity that their actions do affect others.
As it has been since we got quieter trams (and quieter tracks) a few years ago, when our suburban rail network starts getting electrified in the next couple of years I'm expecting a lot of near-misses and some fatalities from people used to trains they can hear.