Задание

2. How many accidents are there in a normal 24-hour period?

A traffic policeman is a police officer who directs traffic by standing in the road and giving signals to the drivers with the help of his arms. He is also a police officer who stops drivers who break the law and shows them a ticket which is a written notice of an offence against the driving laws. If you park your car in the wrong place, a traffic policeman will soon find it. You will be lucky if he allows you to go without a ticket.

Mark Hill is a traffic police officer in Watford, near London. He works on some of the busiest motorways in Britain, the M1 and the M25.

"There are traffic police on duty twenty-four hours a day. There are three shifts, and each shift is eight hours. On average we have to deal with three to four accidents each shift."

"We deal with anyone in the accident who is injured. That’s the first thing. Then we have to clear the road and get the traffic moving again."

"Most accidents happen because people drive too fast – especially when the roads are wet. Sometimes we get accidents that occur because drivers don’t follow the rules. For example, I have seen a number of cases of drivers overtaking on the left. This is illegal in Britain. If you want to overtake, you have to go into the fast lane on the right."

"Not everyone can use a motorway in Britain. People that can’t are pedal cyclists, motorcyclists on small motorbikes, people driving agricultural vehicles and pedestrians."

"I like my job. I have a varied working day – I never know what I’m going to do from one day to the next. And I meet all kinds of people. I don’t think there is any other job that can give you such experience."