3.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1: Driving Idioms II

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Page ID: 122283

Don Bissonnette
South Seattle Community College

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Driving Idioms II

1. A fork in the road: The place in a road or street where the road goes both left and right and a driver can’t go straight; the road forms the letter Y; an intersection where a driver can’t go straight.

When we came to the fork in the road, we didn’t know whether to turn right or left. To get to my friend’s house on Mercer Island, I needed to take a right turn at the fork in the road.

2. To get stuck in traffic: To be delayed in arriving someplace because of too much traffic; to be on a street where the cars are not moving

I hate to get stuck in traffic when I have to go to the toilet. On my way to the airport to pick up my in-laws, I got stuck in traffic and was quite late in picking them up.

3. To make a U-turn: To make a 180 degree turn in a street and go in the opposite direction

When we discovered we were going the wrong way on Highway 99, we made a U-turn at a traffic light. On I-5, drivers can’t make U-turns. U-turns are traffic infractions on freeways.

4. To cut someone off: To cut sharply in front of someone while driving

Sometimes when one person cuts off another person, it can cause an accident. I am always careful not to cut someone off when I am changing lanes.

5. To pull over: To drive to the side of the street in order to safely stop or park your car

When I got a flat tire, I pulled over to the side of the road so that I could change the tire safely. When the policeman stopped the speeding car, the driver had to pull over to the side of the road.

6. To lose one's license: To have the government take one's driving privileges away because of bad driving or breaking too many traffic laws

My friend got caught by the police for a DWI and he lost his license for six months. When a person loses his license, his insurance cost goes up.

7. Speed Zone: An area of a freeway or highway where a driver must slow down (reduce speed)

On many country roads, there are speed zones where drivers must slow down. Wherever there is a school, there is a speed zone and drivers must not exceed 20 miles per hour.

8. Radar trap or Speed trap: A section of a road where police check drivers' speed, usually by using a radar gun

Police make lots of money at speed traps because drivers forget to slow down. Sometimes there are radar traps from helicopters in the sky.

9. A rolling stop: When a person doesn’t stop his car completely at a stop sign or red light, it is called a rolling stop. Police will give people a ticket for going through a stop sign or red light if the person uses a rolling sop instead of a complete stop.

My wife often uses a rolling stop instead of stopping completely at stop signs. I know that some day she will get a ticket for going through a stop sign. Some people call a rolling stop a California rolling stop because California drivers a famous for rolling stops.

10. To clock someone's speed: To determine someone's speed either by using a radar gun or by following closely behind a car at the same speed that the car is going

Police always clock a speeders’ speed before they pull them over. A policeman clocked my speed at 39 miles per hour in a 30 mile an hour speed limit zone, so I got a ticket.

11. To have the green light to do something: To have permission to do something; to be allowed to do something

I had the green light from my mother to go into the army even though she didn’t like the idea. My son’s girlfriend’s parents gave him the green light to marry their daughter.

12. To jump start a car: Either to push a car or to use the battery from another car to start a car; usually done due to a dead battery

Last Friday I jump started a car in a parking lot because the woman had a dead battery. My wife left the lights on in her car and had to have a jump start to get it started the next day.