I bought a packet of seeds today. As the sales assistant handed me my change, she said, “Have a safe weekend.” This was a surprise. Usually a sales assistant says, “Have a nice day.” However, this is the beginning of a long weekend and quite often people die in car accidents on long weekends.
The police start counting Labour weekend traffic accidents from 4pm on Friday until 6am Tuesday. The number of people who die in traffic accidents during that time, is called “the road toll”. More people travel at the same time during a long weekend than usual. There is often a traffic jam early Friday evening as people leave for a holiday, and again on Monday evening as people come home. But at other times on the weekend, more cars on the roads can mean more accidents especially if people are in a hurry.
The police believe that excessive speed is one cause of traffic accidents. During this holiday weekend, the police will stop anyone they catch driving more than 4km above the speed limit. Anyone who is stopped by the police will also be breath-tested for excessive alcohol. Another cause of traffic accidents is drunk drivers.
Last year, the road toll over Labour weekend was just one person. Already this year, one man has died in a traffic accident. It is not a good beginning to Labour weekend.
So, I hope you have a safe weekend.
Vocabulary
• a toll – a cost, in money or in lives; the road toll = number of people killed on the road; a toll road = you pay to use the road
• excessive – too much
• breath-tested – the driver blows into a bag which shows the amount of alcohol in his/her breath
Grammar
Use ‘during’, ‘on’ or ‘over’ to introduce a group of words which do not have a verb e.g. during / on / over the weekend.
Use ‘while’ to introduce a group of words with a verb e.g. while I was shopping
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