Transport & Automotive

A-road/B-road

highway categories (M is a motorway, A, B, are progressively smaller roads)

boot

trunk

bonnet

hood

bypass

car park

parking lot

cat's eyes

shiny things to indicate lane edges

central reservation

median strip

coach/bus

a bus is local, a coach is for distance travel and has more comfortable seats

diversion

detour

dual carriageway

divided highway

dynamo

generator

(milk) float

small, (electric?) vehicle

glove box

glove compartment

HGV

"heavy goods vehicle"

JCB

a backhoe

juggernaut

a semi-articulated lorry

level crossing

a railroad crossing

lorry

truck

mileometer

odometer

MOT

Ministry of Transportation: "MOT test" for short, annual car inspection

motorway

highway/freeway

one-way system

the pattern of one-way streets in a town

pavement

sidewalk

pedestrian refuge

a pedestrian traffic island

pelican crossing

a pedestrian crossing with a button-activated pedestrian light

petrol

gasoline (petroleum spirits)

plant (plant crossing, plant hire)

industrial equipment. For some reason an aspidistra is always the "plant" that people imagine crossing the road in this context ... (or Triffids)

return

round trip (ticket, fare)

ring road

circumferential highway (e.g. the Beltway (Washington), Rte. 128 (Boston): even small towns may have ring roads

roundabout

rotary (also: a merry-go-round, either the kind at a carnival (carousel) or at a children's playground)

single

one-way (ticket, fare)

slip road

on-ramp/off-ramp

speed ramp/sleeping policeman

speed bump

spanner

wrench

subway

pedestrian underpass

tram

streetcar, trolley (see trolley)

transport cafe (pronounced "caff")

truck stop

verge

shoulder

wheel trims

hubcaps

windscreen

windshield

zebra crossing

a pedestrian crossing with a flashing light (cars must always stop)