John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

American English to British English Dictionary - Driving

911

GENERAL TERM. The telephone number for contacting the emergency services (fire, police and ambulance) in the USA and Canada. This number must only be used in an emergency.

AC, A.C. or A/C

CAR PART. Air Conditioning. This meaning is by far the most common in the context of vehicles and driving.
GENERAL TERM. Alternating Current.

Antenna

CAR PART. Radio aerial.

ATV

TYPE OF VEHICLE. All Terrain Vehicle.

Auto

GENERAL TERM. Automobile, car.
CAR PART. Automatic gearbox.
GENERAL TERM. Automatic.

Automatic Transmission

CAR PART. Automatic gearbox.

Ball

US HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TERMINOLOGY. A circular traffic light (i.e. not an arrow). A green ball is a circular green traffic light, a yellow ball is a circular yellow traffic light and a red ball is a circular red traffic light. This term is not used on road signs and is probably not understood by the general public.

BR

ROAD TYPE. Business Route.

Brights

CAR PART. Headlights on high beam.

Bus Rte or Business Route

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Car Pool

ROAD SIGN. Any vehicle containing at least a certain number of occupants, and therefore allowed to use an HOV (high occupancy vehicle) restricted lane marked with an outline diamond symbol. You do not need to belong to an organised car pool system in order to qualify. Road signs for restricted lanes often use this term.

CDW

CAR RENTAL. Collision Damage Waiver. See separate article for details.

Cluster Head

US HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TERMINOLOGY. A set of traffic lights on the same physical backplate mounting. This term is not used on road signs and is probably not understood by the general public.

Construction

ROAD SIGN. Road works.

County Road

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Crossbuck

ROAD SIGN. The sign seen at railroad crossings with two diagonal arms, one arm bearing the word "Railroad", the other arm the word "Crossing".

Crossover

ROAD SIGN. A gap in the median (central reservation) between the two carriageways of a divided highway (dual carriageway) which can be used by normal vehicles to turn round. Most median gaps are strictly reserved for use by emergency vehicles only but crossovers for general use are occasionally seen on rural highways with very low traffic levels. If you use a crossover, check that it is legal to do so and take extreme care.

Crosswalk

ROAD FEATURE. Pedestrian crossing, usually at an intersection.

Diamond Symbol

ROAD SIGN. See separate article.

Divided Highway

ROAD TYPE. Dual carriageway. See separate article for details.

DMV

GENERAL TERM. Department Of Motor Vehicles. The department in each state usually responsible for vehicle and driver licencing. The name differs between states.

DOT

GENERAL TERM. Department Of Transport or Department Of Transportation. The department in each state usually responsible for the state's road network. The name differs between states.

Drop-Off Charge

CAR RENTAL. The charge made by a car rental company for a one-way rental. See separate article for details.

DUI

GENERAL TERM. The offence of Driving Under The Influence (of alcohol or drugs).

DWI

GENERAL TERM. The offence of Driving While Intoxicated.

End Construction

ROAD SIGN. A road sign indicating that you have reached the end of road works.

EP

CAR RENTAL. Extended Protection or Extra Protection. See separate article for details.

Exit

ROAD FEATURE. Freeway or expressway junction. Almost all exits also allow vehicles to join the freeway or expressway.

Expressway

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

FAIR Lanes

GENERAL TERM. Fast And Intertwined Regular Lanes. Less congested lanes on a multi-lane road, for which a toll is charged. Drivers who take the alternative free lanes are offered credits which can be applied to future tolls, public transportation and public transportation parking facilities. In some cases these lanes can only be used by vehicles that have special electronic tags and there are no facilities to pay tolls by means of cash. FAIR lanes are a relatively new development.

Fender

CAR PART. A vehicle's bumper.
CAR PART. A car's wing.

FHWA

GENERAL TERM. The United States Federal Highway Administration (external link verified Jul-02).

Flagger or Flagman

ROAD SIGN. A person who controls the flow of traffic at construction (road works).

Four Way Stop

ROAD SIGN. See separate article.

Freeway

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Frontage Road

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Gas

GENERAL TERM. Petrol.

Gas Pedal

CAR PART. Accelerator.

Gas Pump

GENERAL TERM. Petrol pump.

Gas Station

GENERAL TERM. Petrol station.

Grade Crossing

ROAD FEATURE. Railroad crossing (level crossing).

Highway Marker Shield

ROAD SIGN. See separate article.

Hood

CAR PART. Bonnet.

HOT Lanes

GENERAL TERM. High Occupancy Toll lanes, meaning "high occupancy or toll" lanes. Special lanes on a multi-lane road which can be used free of charge by vehicles with enough occupants to constitute a car pool, but which are subject to a toll for other vehicles. In some cases these lanes can only be used by vehicles that have special electronic tags and there are no facilities to pay tolls by means of cash. HOT lanes are a relatively new development.

HOV

GENERAL TERM. High Occupancy Vehicle. A vehicle with at least a specified number of occupants, which can legally make use of a restricted lane marked with an outline diamond symbol. Such lanes are sometimes called Carpool lanes or HOV lanes.

Intersection

ROAD FEATURE. Road junction.

Interstate Highway

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Jct

ROAD SIGN. An abbreviation for "Junction". Often seen on road signs indicating the distance to a junction with a specified road, for example "Jct I-80 26", meaning that it is 26 miles to where this road has a junction with I-80.

LDW

CAR RENTAL. Loss Damage Waiver. See separate article for details.

Licence Plate

CAR PART. Number plate. Each US state and Canadian province and territory has their own design.

Limited Access Highway

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

LIS

CAR RENTAL. Liability Insurance Supplement. See separate article for details.

Manual Transmission

CAR PART. Manual gearbox.

Median

ROAD FEATURE. Central reservation.

MUTCD

US HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TERMINOLOGY. The United States Federal Highway Administration's Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (external link verified Jul-02), which offers guidance on all aspects of road signs, traffic lights and similar matters. Although the MUTCD is intended as a national standard, most states publish a supplement listing their own variations. This abbreviation is not used on road signs, nor is it likely to be understood by the general public. However, it is very frequently used in relevant documents available on the Internet.

Off Ramp

ROAD FEATURE. Exit slip road.

On

GENERAL TERM. In directions, "on" means "onto". For example "turn left on Main" means "turn left onto Main Street".

On Ramp

ROAD FEATURE. Entry slip road.

PAI

CAR RENTAL. Personal Accident Insurance. See separate article for details.

Parking Brake

CAR PART. Handbrake.

Parkway

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Pavement

ROAD FEATURE. The road surface on which vehicles drive.

Pavement Ends

ROAD SIGN. See separate article.

PD

GENERAL TERM. Police Department.

PED XING

ROAD SIGN. Pedestrian Crossing.

PEI

CAR RENTAL. Personal Effects Insurance. See separate article for details.
GENERAL TERM. Prince Edward Island, the Canadian province.

Permissive Mode

US HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TERMINOLOGY. See separate article.

Protected Mode

US HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TERMINOLOGY. See separate article.

Ramp

ROAD FEATURE. Slip road.

Restricted Lane

ROAD FEATURE. See separate article.

RR

ROAD SIGN. Railroad (railway). "RR Crossing" means a railroad crossing, also called a grade crossing, in other words a level crossing.

RTD

ROAD SIGN. Rapid Transit Department, public transport, buses, etc. May also be used to refer to a restricted lane marked by an outline diamond symbol which is reserved for use by buses.

RV

TYPE OF VEHICLE. Recreational vehicle, motorhome.

School Zone

ROAD FEATURE. See separate article.

Service Road

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Sidewalk

ROAD FEATURE. The path at the side of the road on which pedestrians walk.

Speed Zone

ROAD FEATURE. A section of road subject to a lower speed limit than other sections.

State Highway

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

Stick Shift or Stickshift

TYPE OF VEHICLE. Dave Krupka kindly provided this explanation:

Stickshift refers to a manual transmission or gear box. Sometimes its shortened to "stick". If someone "...knows how to drive stick" they know how to work manual transmissions.

The stick is the gear lever.

Surface Road

ROAD TYPE. See separate article.

SUV

TYPE OF VEHICLE. Sports Utility Vehicle.

Switchback

ROAD FEATURE. Hairpin bend.

Transmission

CAR PART. Gearbox.

Trunk

CAR PART. Boot.

Tsunami

ROAD SIGN. Tidal wave. Along the Oregon and Washington State coasts there are road signs indicating Tsunami evacuation routes. These signs are circular, with a blue background and white foreground text and images.