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Danger warning signs indicate a hazard ahead on the road that may not be readily apparent to a driver. In most countries, they usually take the shape of an equilateral triangle with a white background and a thick red border. However, both the colour of the background and the colour and thickness of the border vary from country to country.

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A number of countries do not give information for the road ahead (so-called “pull-through” signs), and only for the directions left and right. Advance directional signs enable drivers to take precautions for the exit (e.g., switch lanes, double check whether this is the correct exit, slow down). They often do not appear on lesser roads, but are normally posted on expressways and motorways, as drivers would be missing exits without them. While each nation has its own system, the first approach sign for a motorway exit is

Сmostly placed at least 1000 m from the actual interchange. After that sign, one or two additional advance directional signs typically follow before the actual interchange itself.

Distances on traffic signs generally follow the measurement system in иuse by the country. Most U.S. road signs use the imperial system of miles (or a fraction) or yards, although the federal Department of Transportation has developed metric standards for all signs. United Kingdom signs also display distances in miles. Elsewhere, metric distances are in very wide use, though not universal.бА

Where signs use a language, the recognised language/s of the area is normally used. Signs in most of the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are in English. Quebec uses French, while New Brunswick and the Jacques-Cartier and Champlain bridges, in Montreal (as well as some parts in the West Island), use both English and French, and a number of other provinces and states, such as Ontario, Manitoba, and Vermont use bilingual French-English signs in certain localities. Mexico uses Spanish. Within a few miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, road signs are often in English and Spanish. Indigenous languages, mainly NahuatlДas well as some Mayan languages, have been used as well. In Israel, many signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

35. Answer the following questions using theИinformation from the text.

1) What are the reasons for appearance of standardized pictorial signs? 2) What is the difference between prohibitory and mandatory signs? 3) Where are advanced directional signs normally placed?

4) What type of traffic signs is less internationally standardized than others? 5) What measurement systems do traffic signs use in different countries? 6) What is the reason for placing bilingual signs?

36. Read the following texts and choose suitable titles for them from the following ones:

1)Modern construction technologies and Road traffic safety

2)Road traffic safety problems of large cities

3)Road traffic safety and public policy

4)Road traffic safety in different types of areas

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I

For road traffic safety purposes it can be helpful to classify roads into ones in built-up area, non built-up areas and then major highways.

Pedestrians and cyclists are among the most vulnerable road users, and in some countries constitute over half of all road deaths. Interventions aimed

and are characterised by the removal of traditional traffic signals and signs, and even by the removal of the distinction between carriageway and footway.

At the other end of the spectrum from build-up area roads are motorways, which may be called freeways, limited access highways. Motorways improve safety by:

limited access from properties and local roads;

grade separated junctions;

median dividers between opposite-direction traffic to reduce likelihood of head-on collisions;

removing roadside obstacles;

prohibition of more vulnerable road users and slower vehicles;

placements of energy attenuation devices (e.g. guardrails, wide grassy areas, sand barrels);

eliminating road toll booths. И

Although these roads may experience greater severity than most roads to due higher speeds in the event of a crash, the probability of a crash is reduced by removing interactions (crossing, passing, slower and opposing traffic), and crash severity is reduced by removing massive, fixed objects

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or surrounding them with energy attenuation devices (e.g. guardrails, wide grassy areas, sand barrels).

Motorways are far more expensive and space-consumptive to build than ordinary roads, so are only used as principal arterial routes. The improved safety and fuel economy of motorways are common justifications for building more motorways. However, the planned capacity of motorways is often exceeded in a shorter timeframe than initially planned, due to the underestimation of the extent of the suppressed demand for road travel. In developing nations, there is significant public debate on the desirability of

“bleed” or “flush” to the surface, leaving a very smooth surface that provides little traction when wet. Certain kinds of stone aggregate become very smooth or polished under the constant wearing action of vehicle tires, again leading to poor wet-weather traction. Either of these problems can increase wet-weather crashes by increasing braking distances or contributing to loss of control. If the pavement is insufficiently sloped or poorly drained, standing water on the surface can also lead to wet-weather crashes. To avoid this many roads are cambered (crowned), that is, made so that they have rounded surfaces, to reduce standing water and ice, primarily to prevent frost damage but also increasing traction in poorДweather. Some sections of road are now surfaced with porous bitumen to enhance drainage; this is particularly done on bends. As well as that, there are often grooves cut into the surface of cement highways to channel water away. These are just a few elements of highway engineering.

Better motorways are banked on curves Иin order to reduce the need for tire-traction and increase stability for vehicles with high centers of gravity. Modern safety barriers are designed to absorb impact energy and minimize the risk to the occupants of cars, and bystanders. For example, most side rails are now anchored to the ground, so that they cannot skewer a passenger compartment, and most light poles are designed to break at the base rather than violently stop a car that hits them. Some road fixtures such as road signs and fire hydrants are designed to collapse on impact. Highway authorities have also removed trees in the vicinity of roads; while the idea of “dangerous trees” has attracted a certain amount of skepticism, unforgiving objects such as trees can cause severe damage and injury to any errant road users.

Most road signs and pavement marking materials are retro-reflective, incorporating small glass spheres or prisms to more efficiently reflect light from vehicle headlights back to the driver’s eyes.

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Lane markers in some countries and states are marked with cat’s eyes or Botts’ dots, bright reflectors that do not fade like paint. Botts’ dots are not used where it is icy in the winter, because frost and snowplows can break the glue that holds them to the road, although they can be embedded in short, shallow trenches carved in the roadway, as is done in the mountainous regions of California.

СIn some countries major roads have “tone bands” impressed or cut into the edges of the legal roadway, so that drowsing drivers are awakened by a loud hum as they release the steering and drift off the edge of the road. Tone bands are also referred to as “rumble strips”, owing to the sound they create. иAn alternative method is the use of “raised rib” markings, which consists of a continuous line marking with ribs across the line at regular intervals. They were first specially authorised for use on motorways as an edge line marking to separate the edge of the hard shoulder from the main carriageway. The objectiveбАof the marking is to achieve improved visual delineation of the carriageway edge in wet conditions at night. It also provides an audible/vibratory warning to vehicle drivers, should they stray from the carriageway, and run onto the marking.

37. Give a talk on your speciality (automobile transport, electrical equipment, internal combustion engines, cargo transportation, professional education and traffic regulation).

Д И

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