Cars, roads & traffic — B2 vocabulary
Key words and expressions to describe parts of a car, road features, traffic situations, and what drivers do on the road. Use this block as a quick-reference before or after the exercises.
Level B2 Pre-Advanced
Focus Cars • roads • driving
ACars, roads & traffic — key nouns
- turn signal / indicator car part — small light on a vehicle that shows other drivers which way you are about to turn or move. Always use your indicator before changing lanes.
- rear-view mirror car part — mirror inside the car that lets you see what is happening behind you. She checked the rear-view mirror before overtaking.
- roundabout junction — circular place where several roads meet and traffic goes around a central island. Take the second exit at the roundabout.
- pedestrian crossing / crosswalk safety — painted area of the road where people can cross; often called a zebra crossing. Cars must stop at the crossing when the lights are red.
- lane — one of the marked parts of a wide road for a single line of vehicles. Stay in the middle lane until you pass the bridge.
- car crash / road accident event — collision involving one or more vehicles. There was a serious car crash on the motorway.
- speed limit — the maximum legal speed you are allowed to drive on a particular road. The speed limit here is 50 km/h.
- speed camera — device that measures how fast cars are going and issues fines if they are too fast. The new speed camera has reduced speeding on this road.
- speed bump — raised section of the road built to slow vehicles down. You have to slow right down for the speed bumps outside the school.
- junction — place where two or more roads meet or cross. Traffic is usually heavy at that junction during rush hour.
- rest area — place beside a main road where drivers can stop to rest, eat, or refuel. We stopped at a rest area to have a coffee.
- rush hour — time of day when roads are busiest, usually when people travel to and from work. Try to avoid driving through the city at rush hour.
- oncoming traffic — vehicles coming towards you in the opposite direction. Check for oncoming traffic before you turn right.
- delays — situations where traffic moves more slowly than normal or stops completely. There are long delays on the ring road after an accident.
- road rage negative — aggressive or angry behaviour by a driver towards other road users. He lost his temper and shouted at the cyclist in a fit of road rage.
- DUI / drink-driving offence — driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. She was arrested for DUI after failing a breathalyser test.
💡 Exam tip: nouns like speed limit, road rage and rush hour are common in speaking tasks about transport and city life.
BDriving actions & typical events
- turn on / start the car — begin operating the vehicle. He started the car and left the car park.
- put on your seatbelt — fasten your safety belt before you drive. Please put on your seatbelt before we set off.
- change gears — move the gear lever to control speed and power. You’ll need to change down a gear on this hill.
- honk / honk the horn — press the horn to make a loud sound. The taxi driver honked at the car blocking the junction.
- brake / slam on the brakes — slow down or stop; brake very suddenly and strongly. She had to slam on the brakes when a dog ran into the road.
- put on / take off the emergency brake — engage or release the handbrake/parking brake. Don’t forget to put on the emergency brake when you park on a slope.
- stall — when the engine stops working unexpectedly, often because of a mistake with the clutch or gears. The car stalled at the lights and wouldn’t restart.
- signal right / left — use your indicators to show you are going to turn or change lanes. Always signal left before leaving a roundabout.
- have the right of way — be the person or vehicle that is allowed to go first, according to traffic rules. At this junction, the cars on the main road have the right of way.
- give way (UK) / yield (US) — let another driver or pedestrian go first. You must yield to oncoming traffic when you turn left.
- overtake — pass another vehicle that is going in the same direction as you. It’s dangerous to overtake on a bend.
- speed — drive faster than the speed limit. He was fined for speeding in a 30-zone.
- change lanes — move from one lane to another. Check your mirrors and blind spot before you change lanes.
- merge — join a main road or another lane of traffic. Cars have to merge carefully when entering the motorway.
- be stuck in a traffic jam — be unable to move, or moving very slowly, because of heavy traffic. We were stuck in a traffic jam for forty minutes.
- reverse — drive backwards. He reversed slowly out of the parking space.
- make a U-turn — turn in a U-shape to drive back in the opposite direction. We missed the exit and had to make a U-turn.
- pull over — move your car to the side of the road and stop. She pulled over to answer her phone safely.
- get pulled over — be stopped by the police while driving. He got pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt.
- be fined / get a ticket — receive an official penalty (usually money) for breaking traffic rules. She got a parking ticket for leaving the car on a double yellow line.
🔁 UK vs US: give way ≈ yield, drink-driving ≈ DUI, pedestrian crossing ≈ crosswalk.
CUsing this vocabulary in speaking & writing
- In speaking exams, use stronger phrases like stuck in a traffic jam, rush hour, or offence like DUI to sound more natural and precise.
- In writing tasks about cities, transport or the environment, combine traffic words with cause/effect: “During rush hour there are serious delays and drivers often suffer from road rage.”
Exercises:
Cars, roads & traffic
Choose the correct option to complete each sentence below.
1
In American English, the light you switch on to show you are going to turn left or right is called a
.
Correct:
A turn signal is the American term for the light that shows other drivers you are going to turn.
2
In British English, that same light for showing you are turning is usually called an
.
Correct:
An indicator is the British word for a turn signal.
3
Inside the car, the mirror you use to see the traffic behind you is the
.
Correct:
The rear-view mirror is the mirror inside the car that lets you see what is behind you.
4
A circular junction where drivers go around a central island and take different exits is called a
.
Correct:
A roundabout is a circular road junction with a central island.
5
The general name for a marked safe place where people can walk across the road, often with traffic lights, is
.
Correct:
A pedestrian crossing is a safe place for people to cross the road.
6
In American English, the marked place where pedestrians cross the street is called a
.
Correct:
A crosswalk is the American word for a marked pedestrian crossing.
7
In British English, a pedestrian crossing with black and white stripes on the road is called a
.
Correct:
A zebra crossing is a striped pedestrian crossing on the road.
8
On a wide road, each separate strip of road for one line of moving traffic is a
.
Correct:
A lane is one part of a road, marked by lines, for one stream of traffic.
9
The maximum legal speed you are allowed to drive, for example 50 km/h, is the
on that road.
Correct:
The speed limit is the fastest speed you are legally allowed to drive.
10
The device at the side of the road that takes a photo if you drive faster than the limit is a
.
Correct:
A speed camera records vehicles that are driving too fast.
11
A raised strip across the road that forces drivers to slow down is called a
.
Correct:
A speed bump is a low hump across the road to reduce traffic speed.
12
A place where two or more roads meet or cross, often with traffic lights but not always in a circle, is a
.
Correct:
A junction is any point where roads join or cross.
13
On a motorway, the special place where drivers can stop, use toilets, buy food and relax is a
.
Correct:
A rest area is a stopping place by the road for drivers to take a break.
14
Two cars collided on the highway and both were badly damaged – there was a serious
.
Correct:
A car crash is a collision in which cars hit each other.
15
A cyclist was hit by a bus and the police came to write a report about the
.
Correct:
A road accident is any traffic incident on the road involving vehicles or pedestrians.
16
The roads are always full of cars and buses at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. – that is
in the city.
Correct:
Rush hour is the busy time of day when many people are travelling.
17
Be careful when you overtake on a narrow road; you must watch the cars coming towards you in the opposite lane – the
.
Correct:
Oncoming traffic is the traffic moving towards you from the opposite direction.
18
There were long
on the motorway because one lane was closed for roadworks.
Correct:
Delays are when journeys take longer than expected, often because traffic is slow.
19
When drivers get very angry, shout, use rude gestures or drive aggressively because of traffic, it is called
.
Correct:
Road rage is aggressive, angry behaviour by drivers in traffic.
20
In the US, the crime of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is often written as
on official documents.
Correct:
DUI stands for “driving under the influence” of alcohol or drugs.
21
In British English, the offence of driving a vehicle after drinking too much alcohol is called
.
Correct:
Drink-driving is the British term for driving after drinking alcohol.
22
We didn’t move for thirty minutes because there were so many cars; we were
on the motorway.
Correct:
To be stuck in a traffic jam = to be in a long line of vehicles that are moving very slowly or not at all.
Cars, roads & traffic
Match the sentences with the traffic words
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