Have you ever seen a news report on an accidental death and simply thought, "Whoa. What a dumb way to die!" Perhaps it's not the most sympathetic reaction. But don't we all have a threshold for stupidity? Mine is people who don't follow the basic rules of the road. I'm truly aggravated when an ambulance is trying to get through traffic and none of the drivers seem to know to get over and let them through. "Move Right for Sirens and Lights!" ring a bell? Or the dozens (or more) videos on YouTube featuring someone with their clothes on fire and their friends stupidly fanning the flames. "Stop Drop and Roll" much? Last winter, a video of a series of would-be-rescuers crashing through the ice made the rounds on national and local news. Apparently, few people know that you shouldn't put all your weight in one spot on weak ice. There's not a catching saying for that one. Maybe, "Distribute your weight so the ice doesn't break" could catch on.
We can try to be tactful to teach people, but it seems mocking them is more effective. Although that wasn't actually the intent when the Australian Suburban Railway Network created a public service announcement to prevent accidental injuries on and around train tracks. The video features some darling animated characters meeting untimely death due to stupid behavior. Poking a grizzly bear, sticking a fork in a toaster... you name it. It ends with animated deaths that hit a little too close to reality, around a train station. The ad was criticized for making light of serious injuries, but it got 2.5 million views on YouTube in the first 48 hours. When the jiggle was released to iTunes, it jumped to the top ten in the first 24 hours. Three days later it was the sixth most popluar song globally.
Did it have the desired result? According to Wikipedia, Metro Trains reported a more than 30% reduction in "near-miss" accidents, from 13.29 near-misses per million kilometers in November 2011 – January 2012, to 9.17 near-misses per million kilometres in November 2012 – January 2013. However, a Victoria employee roundly dismisses those figures citing reduction in risky behavior as being "social media bullshit".
I can't dispute the figures, but I'd say you can make common sense as memorable as possible, and most people will still be injured needlessly. Perhaps the necessary information just doesn't come to mind when they specifically need it. I mean, why else would a teenager try to shake a fire out of her dress, giving the flames more oxygen? (see clothes on fire video by clicking the link.)