Opening Viewers’ Eyes to Hazards

It’s been nearly seven months since the Sept. 11 attacks ripped the complacency out of the American mind-set, and tonight comes yet another TV show that appears to be out to milk the residual skittishness for all it’s worth.

And it’s a good thing it does. Although yes, the 9/11 news hook is a bit contrived, the information presented in “The Court TV/Ladies Home Journal Safety Challenge: The New Meaning of Safe” (10 p.m.) is often an eye-opener. And just maybe a life-saver.

The hourlong program, hosted by ABC News’ Cynthia McFadden, uses a multiple-choice quiz format to test viewers’ knowledge of how to stay out of harm’s way in various situations.

A couple of the segments--dealing with an unruly passenger on an airplane, how to evacuate a burning high-rise--do stem from Sept. 11. But the cases actually profiled via interviews and filmed re-creations are several years old, and the advice offered is really nothing that wouldn’t have applied a decade or more ago.

Yet tonight’s show, the second installment of the “Safety Challenge” series, keeps the 9/11 references coming. It also has current or former New York City police and firefighters as guest experts to further rev up the relevancy.

Most of the other segments--which cover tips on securing your home computer, checking into a hotel and surviving a house fire--are not as topical but just as valuable. The “Gee, I didn’t know that” quotient is pretty high, and there is also a Web site tie-in (www .courttv.com) for additional information. The May issue of Ladies Home Journal offers articles that complete the packaging.

So what hotel floor is the safest? And why is staying on your hands and knees a better way to exit a smoke-filled room than crawling along the floor like a snake?

Tune in tonight and find out.