What is the most common distraction for drivers?
(1) Not keeping their eyes on the road (Looking at something else)
(2) Fiddling with radio, TV, CD, or video controls
(3) Talking to passengers
(4) Using cell phones
(5) Drinking or eating something
(6) Not paying attention
(7) Being too tired
(8) Getting lost
(9) Being confused by the road signs
(10) Becoming angry or impatient in traffic jams
Sample answers
(A) The most dangerous device for the modern driver is the cell phone. To use it, one must take one's hands off the wheel, one's eyes off the road, and one's mind off the task of driving. It is no wonder that many countries have banned the use of cell phones by drivers.
(B) Driving in metropolitan traffic is a full-time job. It requires complete concentration and a clear mind. A driver must be able to react instantly to avoid an accident or to deal with some unexpected road condition. Even excellent drivers are handicapped behind the wheel if they are tired or preoccupied with other matters. To drive well, people absolutely must be alert; by definition, tired people are not attentive enough and not quick enough to deal with the ever- changing situation on high-speed highways.
Speak your mind
1. Are you confident of your driving sills?
2. Who do you think are the best drivers, men or women?
3. Do you obey all the traffic rules?
4. Have you ever dozed at the wheel?
5. Did you ever drive drunk?
6. Do you always buckle up! What do you think about the legal requirement to use seat belts?
7. Have you ever been involved in a traffic accident? Tell what happened.
8. Would you ride in a car with a friend who has been drinking?
9. Are you ever willing to lend your car to a friend or coworker?
10. What is the traffic rule people break most often?
Speak your mind helpers
1. Are you confident of your driving skills?
(A) I‘ve been driving since I was twenty-two years old, and I’ve never had an accident and I've never even had a ticket. But that is because I get scared every time I get behind the wheel. Because I'm so afraid, I take pains to be extra careful. I'm sure that if I ever relaxed while driving, I would soon get involved in some sort of traffic incident. I just hope it never happens.
(B) Yes, I'm pretty confident. I got perfect scores on my driving tests, and I have very fast reflexes. | don't understand what all the does is about. People make driving much more difficult and nerve-wracking than it needs to be. I( fewer people were so tense on the highways, it would be a lot less dangerous.
2. Who do you think are the best drivers, men or women?
(A) It has been shown that men have faster reflexes and more driving experience than women, so on average they are better drivers. Women are too slow and too careful due to their lack of confidence and ability, and these attitudes cause a lot of accidents.
(B) Women may perhaps have slower reflexes, though I doubt if that is actually true. But men are overconfident that they can react in a timely matter to any traffic situation, so they are far too fast and too careless. That is why they are involved in more accidents and why their insurance rates are higher. Slow and careful are clearly more appropriate attitudes than speedy and reckless.
3. Do you obey all the traffic rules?
(A) I try to. But I must admit that sometimes I break the speed limit if there is not much traffic and the weather is clear. But I haven't got caught yet, and I don't have any tickets, so, officially, I never break the rules.
(B) I get very frustrated on the road when most of the other drivers are going too fast, weaving in and out of traffic, or doing other things in violation of the law. But they get to their destinations much more quick|y than I do, so I am penalized by following the rules. But, sometimes I feel I have no choice but to drive like my competitors. ”When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” If everyone else drove like he is supposed to, then I would too.
4. Have you ever dozed at the wheel?
(A) Once I caught myself napping on the road. I could not have been asleep long, probably only for a nanosecond or so, since nothing serious happened. But the experience sure did wake me up! I was so scared I had to pull over to the side of the road to recuperate. After a few minutes, I was back to normal, so I was able to start driving again, but I took the next exit and got some coffee!
(B) I've been lucky, I guess. There have been many times when I've had to consciously force myself to stay awake while driving. On those occasions, I turn my radio up loud, drinI‹ coffee, roll down the windows to let the cold air in, anything I can to stay awake. But I can just feel my eyelids slipping down over my eyes.
5. Did you even drive drunk?
(A) Absolutely not! There is nothing more stupid than that. If I'm under the influence of alcohol, I'm not only endangering my own car and my own life, and the lives of the other people in my car, but I'm also threatening the lives of innocent people, even children, by my actions. Drinking slows down our reflexes, makes us sleepy, interferes with our vision, and deprives us of our reasoning facilities. Any one of these conditions is enough to make an accident likely, but all of them happening at the same time practically guarantees one.
(B) Absolutely not! I confess that I have driven after drinking, but I've never driven when I was intoxicated. Having a few drinks does not automatically make someone unfit to drive; it is an attitude as much as it is a physical condition, and everyone reacts di|terentty to alcohol. For some people, a single beer is enough to impair their judgment and make them bad driving risks, but others can safely handle a lot more. So, I‘m not worried about my ability to handle my liquor.
6. Do you always buckle up? What do you think about the legal requirement to use seat belts?
(A) Seat belt laws are an infringement of my personal liberty, just like motorcycle helmet laws. If I want to imperil my own life, it is entirely my own business. If I have an accident and get badly injured or killed because I chose not to buckle up, then I have suffered the consequences of my own bad decision. But I haven't hurt anyone else by my foolishness, so it isn't any one else's concern.
(B) Buckling up is the best insurance we have. Even if I drive perfectly, I'm not always able to avoid the actions of bad drivers around me; and, of course, sometimes accidents happen even to good drivers. There‘s an old joke about the most dangerous part of the car being “the nut behind the wheel,” but if that's true, then the “seat belt on the lap” is the best protection against that nut.
7. Have you ever been involved in a traffic accident? Tell what happened.
(A) When I was very young, our car was hit by a young man driving too fast. He was thrown over our hood and into a concrete wall and was killed instantly. My mother was also seriously injured and had to spend many weeks in the hospital. She never did fully recover and had headaches and back problems for the rest of her life. The rest of us in my family were relatively lucky, though: we had a lot of bruises and a few broken bones, but we recovered pretty quickly. Nevertheless, I cannot get that experience out of my mind; it haunts me every time I get into a car.
(B) I've never been in an accident, but I've driven by some pretty ferocious ones. It's hard to get over seeing a ton of steel twisted beyond recognition, with bodies unconscious in the wreckage or lying on the ground. The blood and the moans are the stuff of nightmares. I'll tell you, whenever I witness the aftermath of a serious accident, I suddenly become much more thorough about driving defensively than I was just before I saw it. It never ceases to amaze me how, instead of slowing down and driving more reasonably, other drivers just speed by these scenes of carnage and drive even more recklessly than before.
8. Would you ride in a car with a friend who has been drinking?
(A) I would never go home with a drunk, but if I thought my friend was Still pretty sober I would risk it. A drink or two over the course of several hours should not seriously impair anyone's ability to drive.
(B) I would never ride with someone who had had even one drink. The risks are too great. But I would not let him or her drive home alone, either. I would drive him, or her, home myself in his or her car, and then I would take a taxi home. Or I would put him or her into a taxi or hire someone else to drive him or her home. It's not just my own life that I'm concerned with protecting, after all, but the well-being of my friend as well.
9. Are you ever willing to lend your car to a friend or coworker?
(A) There are some people whom I would not trust with my car. After a|I, it is a valuable piece of property, and it would be expensive to repair if something happened. But there are some people whose judgment and ability I respect. If a responsible friend needed to borrow my car, I would gladly comply. That's what friends are for, after all, and I know they would do the same for me.
(B) Never, never, never would I let anyone drive my car unless that person were covered by the appropriate insurance, and then only under the most dire circumstances. Not even my wife, not even my son, not even my best friend. The only exception I can think of is if I were injured or sick and unable to drive myself; then I would allow someone else to drive me to the hospital!
10. What is the traffic rule people break most often?
F: Don't drive so fast!
M: I'm not going any faster than anyone else. I'm only keeping up with the flow of traffic.
F: But you're still over the speed limit. Slow down.
M: If I'm too slow I run the Ask of being rear-ended by a fast car behind me. It's better to go the same speed as everyone else.
F: I'm not in any hurry to get where we're going. There's no degree of being late that can compare to being dead! I'd rather be alive and a little late than never to get there at all.
M: Don't worry. Everything is fine. The weather is good, the car is operating perfectly, and I'm in complete control of the situation.
F: If you're not going to slow down, let me out. I refuse to ride with an outlaw.
M: An outlaw?
F: Yes, absolutely. you know what the speed limit is and you refuse to abide by it. That is deliberately breaking the law! Let me out, you criminal!
M: OK, OK, you win. I'll slow down. Now, are you satisfied?
F: Just keep at the speed limit or below and I'll be happy.
M: At least I don't race the other cars. I don't feel like my manhood is threatened just because someone passes me.
F: No, I didn't say you were a terrible driver. But sometimes you're too fast. I don't want to get a ticket and I don't want to take risks.
M: OK, I promise to try to do better. But I think you worry too much.
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