This document provides information about various modes of transport and roads in Britain. It discusses different types of vehicles including cars, buses, trains, boats, planes and more. It also describes different types of roads in Britain such as motorways, A-roads and B-roads. Additionally, it covers topics like traffic signs, the Highway Code and minimum driving ages in Britain. The document serves as a guide to transportation systems and road rules in the United Kingdom.

1. Transport
Road sings

2. Transport
[U] a system or
method for carrying
passengers or goods
from one place to
another

3. What means of transport do you
know?
ships
buses airplanes
transport
bicycles underground cars

4. Buses
Double-decker – a bus with two
passenger decks, especially a red bus of
this type in London
Coach – a comfortable bus for carrying
passengers over long distances

5. What is the best way to see
London?
One of the best ways of seeing
London is to take a seat on the top
deck of one of its famous double-
decker buses. The traffic may be
slow on occasions, but it offers a
wonderful opportunity for leisurely
sightseeing. Many bus routes pass
by London’s most famous sights

6. Tram
also tramcar || usually
streetcar, trolley AmE – a
sort of bus used in cities that
is driven by electricity and
runs along metal tracks set
in the road

7. Railways
Railways were pioneered in Britain: the
Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in
1825, was the first public passenger railway
in the world to be worked by steam power.
The main railway companies in Great Britain
were nationalised in 1948, coming under the
control of the British railways Board

8. Train
a line of connected railway carriages pulled by
an engine: to catch / miss the train / I prefer
tavelling by train
Maglev train – n
magnetic levitation
train; a new type of
very fast train that
runs without wheels
using magnetic fields

9. Ship
a large boat for carrying people or goods
on the sea
Passenger Liner – a large passenger
ship especially one of several owned by
a company
Hydrofoil – a large motorboat fitted with
an apparatus which raises it out of the
water when it moves high speed

10. Ferry
a boat that carries
people or goods
across a river or a
narrow area of water

11. Boat
a small open vehicle for travelling across
water
Tug also tug boat – a small powerful
boat used for pulling and / or guiding
ships into a port, up a river etc

12. Sailing boat
a large ship which gets its power only
from the action of the wind on its sails,
having either no motor or only a small
one for helping it in making certain
movements
Yacht – a light sailing boat, especially
one used for racing
Dinghy – a small open sailing boat used
especially for racing

13. Underground
the Underground BrE a
railway system under the
ground; subway AmE

14. The Underground Code
 The London underground is the oldest
and busiest in the world. Its construction
started in 1860
 If you would like to come to London for a
day from a town in the southeast of
England, you can buy a special
Travelcard which includes travel on
buses and the ‘tubes’ in the central zone

15. Subway
BrE || underpass AmE a
path under a road or
railway by which it can be
safely crossed

16. Do you know who invented the
aeroplane?
 The Wright brothers invented, built, and flew
the first airplane on 7 December, 1903, at Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina.
 They reported their flight in a letter to
government officials in Washington,D.C., but
such an achievement was considered
impossible. Therefore, their letter was ignored.
It was not until 1908 that the Wright brothers
gained worldwide fame

17. British Airways
 Would you like to travel to Britain by air?
Then you will arrive in the southeast, for this is
where the main passenger ports and airports
are situated. Heathrow airport is the biggest
airport in the UK and the world’s busiest
airport. It is about 20 miles east of London
 While Gatwick, the second major airport is
about 30 miles to the south

18. Motorbike
especially BrE a small fast
two-wheeled vehicle with
an engine; = motorcycle

19. When did bicycles with pedals
appear?
 Perhaps unexpectedly, the bicycle
didn’t appear until around 1840 when
a Scotsman, Kirkpatrick McMillan,
created the first one to have pedals.
People rode bicycles without pedals
before then. But they were slow and
not very popular. It took around 140
years for McMillan’s design to
develop into modern mountain
bikes

20. Bicycle
a vehicle with two wheels
that you ride by pushing its
pedals with your feet; = bike

21. Car
 also motorcar BrE || automobile AmE
a road vehicle with usually four wheels
which is driven by a motor and used as
a means of travel for a small number of
people
 Lorry – a large motor vehicle for
carrying heavy goods;

22. Van
a road vehicle, usually larger
than a car but smaller than a
truck, having an enclosed box-
shaped body and used for
carrying goods and sometimes
people: a delivery van /a police
van / a van driver

23. When did the first taxis appear?
 The London black taxi is the first taxi in the
world. Black cabs are over 300 years old.
Once they were horse-driven carriages. In
their present form they appeared after the First
World War.
 It was in 1694 when the Parliament passed
the act which gave the right to carry
passengers to 250 hired carriages
 The traditional colour of the London taxi is still
black, though in recent years red, blue and
yellow vehicles have appeared

24. Ambulance
a special vehicle that is
used to take people
who are ill or injured to
hospital

25. What is it?
This is a system of trains in tunnels in a large city
underground
This is a bus that runs between towns and cities
coach
This boat is used for pulling ships
tug
This vehicle is smaller than a truck and has metal sides
van
This vehicle carries sick or wounded people
ambulance

26. Traffic
a movement of people or vehicles
along roads or streets, of ships in
the sea, planes in the sky etc.
Traffic jam – a situation in which
there is so much traffic on the road
that it moves only very slowly (or not
at all)

27. Traffic warden
an official whose job is to make sure
drivers obey parking regulations.
Wardens have the authority to issue
parking tickets, and may also help to
direct traffic

28. Traffic cone
a cone-shaped marker used on a road
especially for showing where repairs are
being done
Belisha beacon also beacon a flashing
orange flight on a striped globe that marks a
street crossing place (a zebra crossing) for
walkers. Named after Leslie Hore-Belisha,
minister of transport in the 1930s, when such
sings were introduced

29. Traffic lights
also traffic signals n [usually
pl] coloured lights used for
controlling and directing
traffic, especially where one
road crosses another

30. Bus lane
n a part of a wide road, marked for the
use of buses only: We shouldn’t drive
up here – it’s the bus lane
Bus stop – a fixed place at the side of a
road where buses stop for passengers:
waiting at the bus stop

31. Sleeping policeman
esp. BrE, speed bump AmE a
low bump built across a road to
force traffic to move slowly,
usually in residential areas or,
for example, in a university
campus

32. Vehicles
Decide which
answer A, B, C or D
best fits each space

33. Roads in Britain
There are three main
There are three main
types of roads:
types of roads:
A-roads
A-roads B-roads
B-roads
motorways
motorways (major motor routes)
(major motor routes) (minor routes)
(minor routes)

34. Motorway
a very wide road built for fast
long-distance travel
Highway – AmE a broad main
road used especially by traffic
going in both directions, and
often leading from one town to
another

35. Roads
The names of A-roads begin with
the letter A and then have a
number, such as the A1 and the A
414
B-road – in Britain, a less important
country road (often shown in yellow
on maps) with the letter B before its
number

36. Travel by road
 In Britain you must drive on the left and
overtake on the right. There is an
automatic priority for cars approaching
junctions from the left. At roundabouts,
traffic on the roundabout coming from
the right has priority over traffic joining
it. The wearing of seat belts for both
front and rear seat occupants is
compulsory

37. The Highway Code
The official list of rules
for drivers on the road.
People are tested on their
knowledge of the
Highway Code as part of
their driving test

38. Minimum ages are:
16 for riders of mopeds, drivers of small tractors,
and disabled people receiving a mobility
allowance;
17 for drivers of cars and other passenger
vehicles with nine or fewer seats, motorcycles
and goods vehicles not over 3.5 tonnes
permissible maximum weight;
18 for goods vehicles weighing over 3.5, but not
over 7.5 tonnes;
21 for passenger vehicles with more than nine
seats and goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes

39. Traffic Signs
Do you know your Highway Code?
Can you read the signs on the
road?
Why is it essential to have an
International Highway Code?
How does the Highway Code
promote travel and tourism?

40. Do you know these traffic signs?
There must be a school
near here, look at that sign
indicating children

41. You mustn’t blow your
horn here, that “H” stands
for hospital

42. You can’t park here.
That’s a “no waiting”
sign

43. It’s a one-way street, so we’ll
have to go round to the other
end, if we want to drive in

44. There must be road
works ahead

45. Explain these road signs

54. Quiz
Choose the correct
answer for each sign.
You can get one point
for the right choice in
each of the items below