When Idaho's Batman Was a British Traffic Safety Instructor

There was and will always be just one Batman for children of a certain generation. Former Blaine County resident Adam West. Younger people know him from his comic roles on Family Guy and Fairly OddParents.

My dad liked him as Batman, laughing at the corny jokes I didn’t understand at the time. Such as telling villains he kept his sanity by reciting the multiplication tables backwards! To me, the character was righteous. I learned later in life that Adam West may not have been a great role model, but his most iconic character made the grade. Once, when he met Pope Paul VI, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church said the same thing.

West often recorded public service announcements in costume and character. He once sold government bonds, but I found the most unique by accident this week in my personal Facebook feed.

While in Great Britain, he donned the tights and mask and recorded filmed a traffic safety announcement for children.

It looks as if they enjoyed accompanying their hero. The show was very popular throughout Europe, as well for a brief period in our country. If Batman said we should drink our milk (and he did), then we drank our milk.

When he told sidekick Robin that it was important to wear a seatbelt in the Batmobile (which he did), we wore our seatbelts in the family car. 57 years later, I like to believe some of what he taught me remains. As I understand it, he didn’t like being typecast but later realized how important he had been to millions.