READING. 1. Read the text and put the paragraphs in the correct order under the headings:

1. Read the text and put the paragraphs in the correct order under the headings:

(A) Traffic

(B) Protesting against road-building

(C) Road safety

Careful! There is one paragraph that doesn’t belong here.

Britain in the 1980s and early 1990s had a large road-building programme, but experience showed that more roads led to more traffic problems.

It is not surprising that the car is becoming increasingly popular. If you want to travel from London to Oxford by train, a return ticket for one person costs four times as much as the petrol for a car which can take you and three friends.

In spite of having such dense traffic, Britain has one of the lowest number of road deaths in Europe. There are a number of reasons for this: seat-belts must be worn by both drivers and all passengers, there are strict rules against drinking and driving, and there is a speed limit of 70 mph on motorways. A large number of people at risk from car accidents are pedestrians, especially the very young and the elderly.

The protests have forced the government to abandon some of its road-building programmes.

Travelling by coach is cheaper than by train: most tickets cost 70 per cent of the equivalent train fare. Because of the difference in price, about 10.5 million people a year use the coach. Coaches go to more remote or isolated places than trains.

An increasing number of people, not just “green” activists, want money to be invested in public transport rather than new roads. They protest against the number of roads being built. In February 1994, 600 police officers were needed to end a demonstration against a motorway extension. The extension would have destroyed 300 houses to save 11 minutes’ driving time.

The British love their cars: over 60 per cent of families own one or more cars and 23 per cent have the use of two or more. Statistics show that people are using their cars more. In 1965, people in Britain travelled 70 miles (112 km) a week by car. In 1990, people travelled an average of 124 miles (200 km) a week by car. According to the Department of Transport, traffic on all roads will double during the next 30 years.

2. Read the text and fill each gap with one of these words:

choice, stuck, century, crashes, huge, person, way, timetable, too, race

Pre-reading task: Work in groups. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cars and trains.

e.g. + Cars take you door to door. / ― Cars can be difficult to park.