Do you want to get home at 10 or to morgue at 8.

DRIVE LIKE HELL AND YOU”LL GET THERE

DRIVER, GOD HASN’T MADE SPARE PARTS FOR YOU

Ex 4. Read and comment on the anecdotes about drivers:

***

'Didn't you claim when you sold me this car that you would replace anything that broke or

was missing?" "Yes. sir What is it? _:

''Well, I want four front teeth and a collar bone."

Officer: Don't you see that sign, "Fine for parking?" Driver: Yes, Officer, I see it and heartily agree with it."

***

Policeman: "As soon as I saw you come around the bend I said to myself "Forty five at least".

Lady driver. How dare you? It's this hat that makes me look older.

***

A motorist speeding along a highway at 80 miles an hour was stopped by a policeman "Was I driving too fast?" asked the motorist apologetically. "Hell no," replied the policeman "You were flying too low."

***

Mother: What did your dad say when you smashed his new car? Son: Shall I leave out the swear words? Mother: Yes, of course. Son: He didn't say a word

***

Policeman: What do you mean going fifty miles an hour?

Motorist: My brakes don't work and I was hustling to get home before I had an accident

 

Back-seat Driving

Carol: You shouldn't have put your brakes on when the highway's so slippery.

Jeff I put the brakes on because you grabbed the steering wheel.

Carol: I grabbed the steering wheel because you started to weave from side to side.

Jeff: I started to weave after you grabbed the emergency brake

Carol: I grabbed the handbrake after you shouted "My God!"

Jeff: I shouted "My God!" after you jerked my foot off the accelerator.

Carol: I jerked your foot off the accelerator because you didn't want to listen to me.

Jeff: I didn't want to listen to you because you told me I should be driving an ass on a rope instead of a car.

Carol: I suggested you should be driving an ass and not a car because you were driving like a madman.

Jeff: I drove like a madman to get away from the Fiat driver you bawled out as we passed

Carol: I bawled him out because he was looking at me and pointing his finger at his forehead

Jeff: He was pointing his finger at his forehead because you had put your right hand out of the window as if we were going to make a right turn.

Carol: Iput my hand out to show you the tree we were going to smash into if you kept driving like a fool

Jeff: But in the end we smashed into a different one.

Carol: But of course. You'll do anything just to contradict me

How important do you think the following are as causes of crashes on the road today?

• the age of drivers

• speed

• the number of cars on the road

• the weather

• mechanical problems

• the sex of drivers

• the psychology of drivers

• the quality of roads

 

Read the article quickly and decide which the writer feels is the biggest cause.

The dangers of safety

Travelling by road is widely accepted as being the most dangerous way to travel with far more deaths per kilometre than rail, sea or air. In fact, while road traffic injuries represent about 25% of worldwide injury-related deaths, fatalities on the road in the UK have been decreasing for some time, with last year’s figure standing at 3.150. We take a look at why the number is decreasing, but why it seems impossible to eradicate fatalities completely.

Over the years, different methods of reducing the number of crashes have been tried. The Locomotive and Highways Act of 1865 introduced the idea of speed limits to the motoring world. Since then, more and more ways of controlling the behaviour of drivers have been introduced, such as one-way streets and traffic signals, as well as compulsory driver testing and licensing. These days, there are many more methods of enforcement, including speed cameras and fines for breaking motoring laws.

Another solution is to make cars themselves safer in case of an accident. This means the main focus has been on passive safety or crash survival rather than active safety or avoiding crashes. There are many innovations by motor manufacturers which have made car safer, such as seat bells, anti-lock brakes and airbags. A lot of attention has also been paid to car interiors, as cars have got quieter, more comfortable and more luxurious. These improvements have tended to make the driver feel more in control and insulated him/her from the fast-moving and dangerous environment outside the car. It seems strange that as improvements have been made the number of pile-ups continues to increase.

Actually, it is wrong to talk about safe and dangerous cars in this way.

The key to this problem is not actually the car, but the driver. In fact, making drivers feel safer is not the solution to the problem, it is the cause of the problem. As drivers feel safer, it encourages them to drive aggressively and to ignore other road users and therefore increases the number of crashes. The problem of car safety is not an engineering problem but a psychological one. Ironically, if we want cars to be safer, we need to make them more dangerous!