The Future of Cars and Traffic

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Today is our last day on the topic of driving so I thought it would be interesting to watch this video on the future of cars and traffic.  The speaker is Bill Ford.  He is the Great Grandson of a famous American, Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company.  Henry Ford invented the Model T automobile and revolutionized the way cars were made in America.  He thought cars should be available to everyone and not just the rich so he developed ways of making cars using assembly lines so that many cars could be made quickly and affordably. 

We can see he was successful because now many people in the US (and around the world) drive cars and today we are dealing with the problems caused by all those cars such as pollution and traffic jams. 

So, That is what Bill Ford is talking about in this speech - the future of cars and traffic.  He says we need more than just smart cars such as electric cars that don't pollute, but we also need smart traffic systems - cars that can communicate with each other and tell you when there is a traffic jam ahead, cars that can find parking spaces for you so you don't waste gas driving around, etc. He says this is important because traffic jams have a big impact on our lives and  effect things like food being delivered to stores and how long it takes to drive from your work to your home.  As more people move to the cities and more people around the world use cars, then the more we need to improve traffic systems. 

Here in Hanoi many people ride motorbikes and already we see many traffic jams and problems with parking.  Now imagine if all of those people bought cars. Where would they all go? It's something to think about. 

This video is fromwww.ted.com.  It has many features that will help you practice English.  First, of course, is you will be listening to a native English speaker.  Second, there is a English transcript for you to read. third, you can turn on the subtitles either in English or 24 other languages including Vietnamese. 
And finally the transcript can also be translated into other langauges.  You can read the transcript in your native language first so you will understand what the speech is about.  Then watch the video in English and you will understand more of the English.  

So, now let's watch the video...
   

Driving in the Snow

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In the northern part of the US during the winter months it often snows.  Snow and ice make the roads slippery and dangerous to drive on.  It's easy for a car to slide into another car and cause an accident.  The ice can make it difficult to drive up a hill.  Your car can't get traction on the road and slips back down the hill. 

State governments have to take care of the roads during winter so people will not have accidents.  They monitor the weather reports and send out special trucks to drop salt and other ice melting chemicals on the roads before a snow storm.  After the storm they have trucks with a blade on the front called a snow plow for pushing the snow off the road. 

Sometimes children get the day off of school so that the roads can be plowed to make it safe for the school buses.  This is called a snow day and as you can imagine most children are quite happy to skip school, stay home and play outside in the snow.

Drivers' also need to learn how to drive in the snow.  Many people put snow tires on their cars during the winter months or they wrap the tires in special snow chains.  These tires help the car grip the road better.  It's also important for drivers to drive slower and leave a bigger distance between their car and the car in front of them. 

If you are curious about what the roads look like in winter watch this video made by a truck driver driving through the state of Maine into Canada.  You will see snow plows, grey skies and lots of snow!  There is no audio narration for this video only music playing a country and western song but I think you will enjoying seeing what it looks like. 

The Written Driving Test

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As I mentioned in the post on getting your driver's license, you have to take a written test.  Each state has a driving manual with the rules, laws and other things you should know for the test.  Most teens in the US get a copy of this manual in their Driver's Ed class but anyone can read them on-line.  Here is a link to the Driver's manual for the state of Virginia. 
 http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/citizen/drivers/manual.asp

Besides the text, at this website you will find audio for the entire book.  So, if you are interested in the topic of learning to drive, you can listen, read, and learn.  After you finish try some sample questions by clicking on the sample knowledge exam on the right hand side of the website.

Traffic in LA at Night

Here is a time lapse video of the traffic in Los Angles (LA) at night.  Time lapse means they set the camera in one place and filmed for a long time and then condensed the video to play for a short time.  It makes all of the cars look like they are zooming by as streaks of light. 

Rush Hour

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Americans like to drive cars and not many people drive motorcycles or scooters.  Our roads in the towns and cities are crowded with cars.  Especially in the morning and evening when everyone is going to or coming from work.  We call this time of day rush hour. 

Here is a video from a road near the Capital of the US, Washington, DC.  The road is I-495 but everyone calls it The Capital Beltway.  It's called a beltway because it makes a circle around the city, like a belt circles your waist.  People in this area often talk about being inside the beltway or outside the beltway, depending on where you are.  For example, someone might say, "I work inside the beltway in the city but I live outside the beltway in the Virginia suburbs." 

The I in I-495 stands for interstate.  I-495 is an interstate highway. Inter- is a prefix meaning between or among. So, interstate means between states. I-495 goes between Maryland and Virginia.

As you will see in the video, It's a big highway.  You can only see 4 lanes of traffic but that's just one side, there are 4 more lanes on the other side.  And you can see there are lots of vehicles, not just cars.  There are also big trucks and buses.    So, that a little bit of what it's like to drive in the United States. 

Here is a video describing the behind the wheel driving test. 

Did you know that YouTube recently added automatic captioning to videos.  If you would like to see the English words while the video is playing, press the small cc button at the bottom of the video frame and select transcribe audio.  It is a new service and it's not quite perfected yet so on some videos the captions don't match what is being said exactly.  For example, when I tried it with this video it didn't work very well.  But on other videos it works perfectly.  It's one more tool to help you learn and practice English.   

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Getting a driver's license in the US

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The laws vary from state to state but they are all pretty similar.   So, these are general steps that teens take in the US to get a driver’s license.

It usually starts in the second year of high school, teenagers in the US take a class called Driver’s Education or Driver’s Ed, for short and this begins their journey to getting a license.  This is an academic class where they learn the laws related to driving and learn tips on how to be a good driver.   At the end of the class is an exam and they must pass it if they want to get a driver’s license. 

Next they go to the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in their state to get a learner’s permit.  A learner’s permit allows them to operate a car while they are learning.   Typically, they have to be at least 15 years old to get a learner’s permit and  they must always have a person with them in the car who already has a driver’s license.  During this time teens will drive a lot with their parents and they will take a class called Behind the Wheel.  This class takes place in a car with an instructor and the students taking turns driving.

When the teen turns 16 years old they can go back to the DMV and take another test to get their driver’s license.  This is a behind the wheel test where an examiner gets in the car with the teen while they drive.  The examiner will sit in the passenger seat and give the teen directions.  They usually have a clipboard to make notes and score the teen on their driving skills.  At the end of the driving test, the examiner will say pass or fail.  If the teen passes they get their driver’s license and can now drive by themselves.  If they fail, they must practice some more and take the test again. 

Some states have provisional licenses.  This means until a driver turns 21 their license looks different

and they must follow certain rules such as they can only have 2 passengers in the car and they can’t drive after midnight. 

This English Central video is a car commercial starring Matthew Broderick.  It is a spoof on the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off which starred Matthew Broderick about 20 years ago.  It's a very funny movie so if you ever get the chance, you should watch it. 

To spoof or to parody something means to make fun of it in a friendly way.  It's meant to be funny and not insulting.  In this video Matthew Broderick is spoofing his own movie. 

Topic of the Week - Driving in the USA

Topic of the Week ... April 18 - 24, 2012

The Topic for the week is ... Driving in the USA.  Join me as I bring you interesting articles, audio and video links and other ideas about this topic. 

To see all posts on this topic click Driving.