1. Introduction

Unit 5 deals with safety, and especially safety on the road. It is a very important topic because you can never be too careful. According to the World Health Organization, every year, the lives of more than 1.25 million people are cut short as a result of a road traffic crash. Therefore, it is not surprising that car companies do their best to make their vehicles as safe as possible. With the current pace of development of electronics, especially sensors, this is not as challenging as you might think. However, what may be challenging is to decide about the right level of assistance while driving. Research shows that too many safety systems installed in a car make people feel too safe and drive more dangerously. They simply don´t seem to understand that intelligent safety systems cannot take over drivers´ responsibility. Unit 5a discusses this issue from the technical point of view.

Contents:

  • Talking about car safety systems, explaining their principle
  • Taking part in a discussion about safety systems; some expressions typical of discussions:

in other words, by the way, alternatively, anyway, for instance, you have a point

  • Some phrases for an informal conversation over a phone:

Good to hear from you. How are things with you? I hear…, What are you looking into? Are you free? That´s OK for me.