1 Road Safety And Automobile Association Patrol In Great Britain

Topic # 1
Road Safety And Automobile Association Patrol In Great Britain

Every year several thousand people are killed on the roads in Great Britain. Every year between one and two hundred thousand people are injured. These people are killed and injured in road accidents.

If you are in England and if you listen to the eight o’clock news from the BBC, you will often hear news of road accidents. You may hear something like this.
“On Monday evening last, at about twenty minutes to ten, a motorcyclist was knocked down by a motor – van at the junction of Oak Road and High Street in Croydon, Surrey. The cyclist has since died from his injuries. Will anyone who saw the accident, please, communicate with New Scotland Yard, telephone number Whitehall one, two, one, two.”
In 1903 nobody was allowed to drive faster than 20 miles an hour, even on wide open roads. The police were anxious to catch all motorist who went too fast. So a group of “scouts” was formed to warn motorists when there was a policemen waiting on the road in front of them.
From this beginning, the Automobile Association started in 1905. Then it had less than 100 members; today it has more than 3,000,000.
The picture is quite different: now the A.A patrols cooperate with the police and are on the road to help motorists who need them.
It may be a puncture, engine trouble, or an accident. The yellow uniform of the A.A man, with his yellow motor – cycle or van, is a familiar sight throughout Britain.
Accidents are often caused by carelessness. There are rules that help to make the roads safe, but people do not al ways obey the rules. They are careless. If everybody obeys the rules, the roads will be much safer.
In Great Britain traffic keeps to the left. Motorcars, Motorman, buses and cyclist must all keep to the left side of the road. In most other countries traffic keeps to the right.
Before crossing the road, stop and look both ways. Look right, look left, look right again. Then, if you are sure that the road is clear, that there is nothing coming, it is safe to cross the road.
Topic # 2