Применение правил дорожного движения в США

Traffic control became mandatory in ancient Rome as long ago as B. C. when the accidents investigated by Romans had led to certain control measures. In fact, it was here that man first discovered the three "E"s: Engineering, Education, and Enforcement. The invention of the motor-driven vehicle, the increased speed and traffic congestions have made death, injury, and property damage all-too-common occurrences. The need of establishing rules and regulations governing the drivers of this new invention as well as their strict enforcement became apparent. Thus we have the modern-day state vehicle codes and responsibilities of the police in enforcing the provisions of these codes. Today, the three "E"s remain the basic principles of traffic control.

The problem of traffic control is a problem of frightening dimensions in the USA now involving millions of drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians, vehicles, miles of highways and thousands of accidents, injuries sustained by victims, and deaths. Vehicles and environmental factors, e.g. roadways lighting, weather conditions, etc., often contributed to accidents or one of the three phases of vehicle collisions (precrash, crash, and postcrash). However it is the human factor - the driver who is responsible for safe driving and voluntary compliance. Mechanics of accident investigation has corroborated by many facts that traffic law violations are the direct cause of the accident, and such reminders are an excellent means for motivating officers to enforce traffic laws. Drivers who violate the traffic laws are hazards to other drivers. Such driving can easily be a direct cause of an accident rather than physical factors. So the primary purpose of traffic law enforcement is to induce into drivers compliance with reasonable traffic laws. This is the focus of law enforcement.

While enforcing the law during their work shift police officers directing traffic have to make so-called routine stops of traffic violators to achieve voluntary compliance. Traffic officers usually use the rule of thumb to warn a driver for a minor infraction of the traffic or impose a fine and give a ticket. They issue a citation (summons) and make an arrest for those who have caused violations. It's very important that police should maintain a courteous and common-sense enforcement of the law. At the same time knowledge that police will have inevitably enforced traffic laws when one violates a road traffic rule deters some drivers from unsafe and unlawful driving. Driver improvement often began with police action in identifying drivers who required attention because of risks in their driving behaviour. State licensing agencies, e.g. the Department of Motor Vehicles, systematically review the entire record of a driver. Drivers can have their licences suspended or revoked when police reports indicate driving behaviour has not improved and is a danger for other motorists.

The National Safety Council of the USA has listed nine driving offences as principal accident causing moving traffic violations. They are:

1. Driving while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI). 2. Excessive speed. 3. Failure to yield the right of way. 4. Following another vehicle too closely. 5. Improper turning movements. 6. Driving on centre lines. 7. Failure to heed stop signs. 8. Improper passing. 9. Disregarding signals.

In discharging their traffic-control function police apply electronic traffic control devices and radar speed management and alcohol countermeasures. The wide range of activities performed by traffic officers have contributed and are contributing to the safety of motorists and pedestrians using the local streets and highway system.

Ex. 16. Просмотрите следующие слова, обращая внимание на суф-фиксы. Вспомните их значения. Переведите.

NOUNS
что?:	кто?:
-tion	-ence, -ance	-sion	-er, -or
education	occurrence	collision	driver
invention	compliance	provision	officer
regulations	influence	division	violator
automation	licence	dimension	protector
congestion	offence	-ity	-ist
condition	experience	activity	motorcyclist
investigation	difference	responsibility	bicyclist
violation		ability	motorist
infraction	-ment	-y
citation	enforcement	injury
attention	improvement	property
function	department	agency
detection	movement	safety
specialization	management	academy
intoxication	-ness
-sure	effectiveness
measure

ADJECTIVES (какой?):
-ent	-al	-ive	-ry
ancient	environmental	excessive	necessary
apparent	governmental	preventive	mandatory
excellent	physical		voluntary
different	national	-ic	primary
	local	basic
-able	global	traffic	-ible
reasonable		electronic	responsible

ADVERBS (как?):
-ly	closely	nearly
inevitably	easily	effectively
systematically	frequently	certainly

Ex. 17. Прочтите и переведите следующие слова, обращая внимание на приставки:

unsafe, unlawful, improper, disregard, countermeasures, discover, provision, precrash, postcrash, reminder, inevitably.

Ex. 18. Прочтите и переведите следующие слова, обращая внимание на суффиксы и приставки:

discover – discovery

invent – invention – inventor – inventive

vehicle – vehicular

govern – government – governmental – governor

congest – congestion

occur – occurrence

drive – driving – driver

injure – injured – injurious – injury

contribute – contribution – contributor

corroborate – corroborative

remind – reminder – remindful

violate – violation – violator

reason – reasonable – reasonably – reasoning

warn – warning

cite – citation

suspend – suspended – suspense – suspension

safe – safety – safely

intoxicate – intoxication – intoxicant

Ex. 19. Прочтите и переведите синонимы (A) и антонимы (B).

A

accident – mishap rules – regulation(s)	occurrence – happening, incident
driver – motorist, operator injury – damage	state vehicle code – traffic regulation rules, traffic rules
device – instrument	crash – collision
intersection – crossroads	pass – overtake
pursuit – chase infraction – violation	investigation – detection, examination
common – usual	citation – summons
vehicle – car, motor-car, auto	apparent – evident

B

ancient – modern	proper – improper
cover – discover	regard – disregard
increase - decrease	easy – difficult
death – life	violation – observance
different – similar	necessary – unnecessary
enforce laws – violate laws	local – global

Ex. 20. Найдите в тексте "Применение правил дорожного движения в США" английские эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний:

техническая оснащенность, воспитание и принуждение; изобретение автомобиля; обычное происшествие; установить правила; правила дорожного движения; проблема пугающих размеров; факторы окружающей среды; автомобильное столкновение; добровольное согласие; нарушение правил дорожного движения; причина несчастного случая; правило "большого пальца"; незначительное нарушение; удерживать от опасного и противоправного вождения; несоблюдение правила преимущественного проезда; неправильный обгон; применять электронные устройства для контроля за движением; способствовать безопасности водителей и пешеходов.

Ex. 21. Ответьте на вопросы.

1. When did the traffic control become mandatory?

2. What three "E"s did man discover in traffic control?

3. What had led the ancient Romans to certain control measures?

4. What factors often contributed to traffic accidents?

5. Who is the main person responsible for safe driving?

6. Are drivers who have violated the traffic laws hazards to other drivers?

7. In which way do police officers usually perform while enforcing the law during their work shift?

8. What do they do in case of a minor infraction of the traffic?

9. What do they do in case of serious traffic violation?

10. What are principal accident-causing moving traffic violations according to the National Safety Council of the USA?

11. What new devices are contributing to police effectiveness in discharging their traffic control function?