| Speeding | |
July 31, 2015
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| In this society, because of fierce competition amongst everyone, people who were in a hurry drove ultra-violently. These people didn't care about traffic rules, thus the traffic accident rate was very high. Of course, victims were always weak people; children and the elderly were the biggest victims. The government had to take drastic actionsc A little before he was caught for speeding. On this particular day, he was taking a special safety class at the police station. There were about twenty people sitting in the lecture room. They all violated the traffic law like him. The lectures started from the morning, and now one more lecture remained. He was tired. In the lectures so far, officers explained how the number of deadly traffic accidents were increasing recently. The officers showed many graphs and pictures detailing how graphic the accidents were. In some pictures, cars were so demolished that you couldn't tell their original shapes. He knew his recent driving was kind of rough. In these days, as other drivers drove more violently, his driving also became rough. In fact, many drivers would pass through an intersection even if it was a red light. When he was caught, he was going 30 km/h over the speed limit. In one of the
He could understand this theory. But, he also knew that when leaving this room, after the last lecture, after a certain period, he would once again drive over the speed limit. The last lecture began. The officer started to distribute a piece of paper and a bottle of soda, saying that from now on he would play a video, the paper was a questionnaire about the video. He added, "You studied well today, and this is the last task. The drink is a refreshment to help energize. If you don't like caffeine, I can exchange it for mineral water." The room was hot, so a cold drink seemed good for all of the attendants. After the room became dark, the video started. It was a fictitious drama. Some famous actors and actresses appeared and he thought that the government used a lot of money to make the video. The protagonist was a driver who was driving on the road in the suburbs. He was a business man and was going to his customer's office. On the other hand, a family, the father took a day off for the first time in months, and with wife and children, for summer vacation, were driving to Disneyland. The daughter said she had forgotten her doll and it was her lucky doll, but the father told her it was too late to return. It was an omen that something bad would happen. The business man got a phone call and when he was struggling to take his phone from his shirt pocket, the car veered off course into oncoming traffic. (In this country driving lane was left.) The family car was proceeding towards the businessman's car. Happy faces of children, light conversation of the parents. The two cars got closer and closer. At the last moment, the protagonist quickly swerved car back into his lane. Within an inch, they all survived. The daughter shouted with a cute face, "Look! I found my doll at the bottom of my backpack. Strangely, its head has come off!" When the last lecture finished, he got his car and drove home. He drove at a slower speed than usual. After a while he found a truck in front of him driving very slow. He said to himself, "Don't be irritated. Soon the truck will get off." But the truck kept going in front of him. He remembered the officer in the lecture said that to pass a truck is more dangerous than other kinds of vehicles because trucks can't see what's behind of them, and a truck has a long body so it takes more time to pass. He breathed deeply. But gradually he became uneasy. As a try, he moved over to the opposite lane to see if it was clear. There was no car coming, there was no car in front of the truck either. He accelerated to pass. When he was about to pass, the driver of the truck, a middle-aged man, looked at him and pointed at the sign by the road, it was a speed limit sign and it read 40 km/h. He looked at his speed-meter, it was 60 km/h. Maybe the truck driver wanted to say that he was keeping the speed limit. But he felt 40km/h was rather slow. He returned his eyes to the front, and realized a big car was approaching him. He was upset. It was a bus and seemed to be a school bus from the appearance of the colorful body. He braked sharply. The bus driver's face became closer and closer and he could see the driver's eyes opened wide. He couldn't return to the original lane because of the truck. When his car was about to hit the bus, he instinctively turned right, the bus also avoided the truck and turned left, towards his side. Both cars broke the guardrail and started to drop down. It was a kind of cliff. He could see the students' frozen expressions from the windows on the bus. They looked to be elementary school kids. Soon he lost consciousness. He opened his eyes. He was in the lecture room. Next to him, a young woman was sobbing. He and a woman woke up earlier than the others. Soon others started to wake up, their eyes were all wet. After most of the attendants woke up, the officer started to explain: The government was thinking of a new policy to reduce traffic violations. This day was the first experiment performed on severe violators. The video had had a 'subliminal' effect via a new technology. With the help of a drug in the drink, the attendants saw the same dream. The drug and the video's effect were perfectly safe. Please fill in the questionnaire about your opinion. The attendants made a fuss. One guy accused it was the nation's oppression. Another woman said she was a lawyer, and to be given drugs without permission violated the law; the 'subliminal' effect had a problem from the point of view of morality. It became a circus. He left the room. He wanted to calm down, the dream was so shocking. He went to a park nearby and sat on the bench. He thought from the bottom of his heart it was very lucky that it was just a dream. He had been driving more than 20 years and hadn't had any serious accidents. But, come to think of it, there were so many car accidents. Thousands of drivers were injured or killed others every year. Thinking about his driving manners and those of others, it was a miracle that he had never injured anybody. He returned to the room, where there was still chaos. He started to fill out the questionnaire. He circled 'agree' on the question about whether he would support the 'dream method' he had experienced. |
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*demorish :When a building is demolished, it is knocked down, often because it is old or dangerous. (Co)
*energize :to make someone feel more determined and energetic (L)
*omen :If you say that something is an omen, you think it indicates what is likely to happen in the future and whether it will be good or bad. (Co)
*veer :to suddenly change direction (C)
*swerve :to change direction suddenly, especially when you are driving a vehicle (C)
*subliminal :at a level of your mind that you are not conscious of (L)
*oppression :when people are treated in a way that is unfair and that limits their freedom (C)
*fuss :when people become excited, anoyed, or anxious about something, especially about something unimportant C)