Drivers should be charged for using motorways and roads

Motorways allow citizens to move from a city to another. People travel to another city to go on brief trips, to commute to work far from their hometown and to meet relatives on religious holidays. In my opinion, it's a good idea charging drivers for using motorways.

In my country motorways are national but private companies are in charge of keeping them efficient. In such way motorways are well maintained and widespread throughout the nation. Maintaining this net of motorways in good condition costs the country money, so it seems obvious that drivers are obliged to pay a toll to use motorways.

In some areas environmentalists prefer surface motorways to underground train tracks. Railways are perceived as spoiling countryside and damaging the activities of farmers. In fact, in my country, the building of new train rails has meant digging into mountains to open new tunnels and has resulted in deviating rivers and lowering of the underground water layer.

Driving your private car is more polluting than travelling by public transports. Then making drivers pay money to use motorways contributes to keeping the environment clean.

On the other hand, if we don't ask for money to use motorways, they would certainly fall into decay.

To sum up I think motorways are as important as railways for a modern country. In fact if railways allow companies to carry goods economically, people can't do without motorways to move fast to nearby destinations.


What do think about free motorways ?

How to overtake a car

1st Diagram.

A motorway has multiple lanes. From left to right: the hard shoulder, the inside lane (or slow lane) and the outside lane (or fast lane).

The fast car catchs up on the slow car, pulls out into the fast lane, pulls ahead and then pulls in in front of the slower car. While pulling in if your car is almost brushed by the other one he cuts in in front of you.

If your car breaks down you have to pull over onto the hard shoulder.

2nd Diagram

If you run out of petrol you must fill up the tank with petrol. So you move over the slow lane, then you take the turn to the petrol station or service area.

You pull into at the petrol station and pull up (or draw up) the car in front of the petrol pump.

Before setting out on a long journey remember to top up all the fluids of your car.

Note: the verbs pull up and draw up come from the action of pulling up or drawing up the reins of a carriage.

An article about motorways or freeways

The nightmare Holiday

   Writing about the holiday of my nightmares isn't easy for me, in fact one of my best holidays, which I remember with great pleasure, turned into a nightmare during its last days.
   The holiday I'm talking about is set in Amsterdam, and I went there with other two friends of mine. Before leaving for our destination we booked a room with three beds. We had decided to stay in a hotel in the city center because my friends had had a negative experience with youth hostels.
   Walking through the streets of Amsterdam I realized how beautiful it is. The centre of this city was built on the banks of the river Amstel, it was developed in four concentric half-circles of canals. Amsterdam is called the Venice of the north because it features 1,500 bridges and pile dwellings.
   Because of its canals it's difficult to see a car running in the city, and the most common forms of transport are bicycles and trams. The absence of a stream of cars and the water flowing in its canals make the capital of the Netherlands a quiet and relaxing city.
   We spent our days in Amsterdam going sightseeing. The most important sights include Dam Square, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Royal Palace.
   Up until then everything was going good and at night I was tired after the day spent walking around the city. On the last day, while making up bed, I noticed something odd: a little insect was crawling between the sheets. For a few minutes, my friend and I staring at the matress we saw one insect after another come out of the bed. Since we had used all our money, we decided to leave but I had to sleep again in the same bed because that was the last night in the hostel.
   The following morning I didn't hear the alarm, I rushed to airport but arrived just when the gate was being closed. The most horrible night of my life was unfolding: I had to sleep on a metallic bench at the airport waiting for the next plane, the air conditioning wasn't even working, it was a hot day in August and I couldn't roll up my t-shirt sleeves because my arms were covered in an itchy rash caused by the insects bites.