Once on an AA flight the FA made all of us in the exit row tell him how we were to open the door in the event of an emergency. We were all freq flyers and it was amusing to see how many could not tell him the proper procedure...even I slipped up on one part (waiting for his command.) I thought this was very beneficial and I wish they would do it more.

He also gave us interesting trivia about the safety announcement in that in a debrief of a plane crash, the survivors were asked why they did not use the exit door that was closer to where they were seated and they stated they did not know there was an exit door there; hence now we get told every time.

On a similar note, I am a whitewater rafter and get the same safety spiel before every trip. Well on one trip we actually overturned. As I was in the frigid water...all I could think about were those safety instructions...so I think they do help