This is a English Conversation lesson about traffic and commuting. Watch the video as Niharika talks about 'transportation woes' and learn some useful expressions and phrasal verbs that people use when they are talking about traffic and their daily commute into work. You can also learn how to answer some of the most common conversation questions on this subject.

Listen for the following expressions in the video. Can you work out what they mean?

Stuck in traffic
Traffic congestion
Transportation woes
Gridlock

Traffic Expressions

Traffic jam -- a long line of vehicles on a road that cannot move or can only move very slowly.

Bumper to bumper traffic -- when cars are traveling so close together that their bumper bars are almost touching

Hold ups - a situation that stops something from happening or making progress

Road rage -- violence and angry behaviour by car drivers towards other car drivers

Rush hour / Peak hour -- the time of day when the roads, buses, trains etc are most full, because people are travelling to or from work

Phrasal Verbs

Run out of (gas /petrol) -- "I ran out of petrol on the highway and had to wait for 1 hour until help arrived"

Pull over -- "I was driving too fast and the police signalled for me to pull over"

Pull out -- "the car pulled out right in front of me and I almost hit it"

Run over -- "I am so upset because this morning I ran over a cat on my way to work"