# Research on Car Safety: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 2, Test 4, Listening Part 4

Source: Recording, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 2, Test 4, Listening Part 4. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 31 | B | I'd been interested and horrified by several newspaper reports on what people call road rage. |
| 32 | A | we depended mainly on talking to individuals, asking them questions, rather than using written questionnaires. |
| 33 | A | Our respondents were both men and women, but the women were just slightly in the majority. |
| 34 | B | we talked to a total of 135 drivers over those two days. |
| 35 | C | but the main type of incident was being shouted at. ... 79% had experienced that |
| 36 | B | it was men who said you should try to avoid looking directly at other drivers. |
| 37 | A | it was women who said you had to tell someone when you were due to get to a particular destination. |
| 38 | C | both sexes made the point that it's much safer to get keys out well in advance |
| 39 | B | Men were very aware that muggers or whatever might be concealed behind the car. ... They also made the point that you should leave plenty of room when you park your car. |
| 40 | C | Men didn't think it was quite as important as women, but both gave it a high safety rating. |

## Why these answers are right

**31. B.** The question asks what first sparked John's interest. He says he was interested and horrified by several newspaper reports on road rage, so the trigger was something he read about, B; the car park attack is an example from those reports, not something he saw himself.

**32. A.** You need the main research method. John says they depended mainly on talking to individuals and asking them questions rather than using written questionnaires, which describes interviews, A; observation comes up only as something the drivers themselves had done.

**33. A.** The pie chart must show the split of men and women who answered. John says respondents were both men and women, with women just slightly in the majority, so the shares are almost equal, chart A; B gives men the larger share and C gives women far too many.

The why and the trap for questions 34 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/research-on-car-safety/answers).

## Transcript

**Announcer:** Section 4, you will hear a student talking about his research project in a university tutorial.

**Announcer:** First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

**Announcer:** Now listen to the talk and answer questions 31 to 40.

**Tutor:** Well, good afternoon.

**Tutor:** In today's session, John Upton will be sharing some of the findings of his research project from last term.

**Tutor:** John.

**John:** Thanks.

**John:** Well, first of all, uh, a little bit about the background to the project.

**John:** Our title as you can see is pretty straightforward.

**John:** Car safety, but these days there's a lot more to it than the usual injunctions about drinking and driving or speeding.

**John:** I'd been interested and horrified by several newspaper reports on what people call road rage.

**John:** For example, the famous incident of a man getting out of his car in a car park.

**John:** And hitting the driver of a van who had overtaken him earlier.

**John:** It seemed to me that there were almost as many serious problems when cars were parked... i.e. were stationary... as when they were traveling at 90 miles an hour.

**John:** So, I decided to make this the focus of the project.

**John:** For our research, we depended mainly on talking to individuals, asking them questions, rather than using written questionnaires.

**John:** We stopped people at a selected garage on the motorway over a two-day period.

**John:** And asked them questions about what they'd observed or experienced themselves.

**John:** Our respondents were both men and women, but the women were just slightly in the majority.

**John:** We were pleased by the public's willingness to stop and chat to us.

**John:** In the end, we talked to a total of 135 drivers over those two days.

**John:** So, what were our findings?

**John:** Well, as you can see, 93% of respondents had had some kind of problem.

**John:** A surprisingly large percentage 24% had had their car damaged in some way, but the main type of incident was being shouted at.

**John:** 79% had experienced that, 15% had experienced violence on their own persons, they'd actually been hit by someone.

**John:** The police tended only to be informed when there was physical violence involved.

**John:** So, what strategies had people developed to ensure their own safety?

**John:** Let's have a look at the figures here.

**John:** Well, first of all, it was quite striking that there were often distinct answers from the men and women.

**John:** It was mainly women for example, who said one shouldn't ever stop to find out how to get somewhere.

**John:** Whereas it was men who said you should try to avoid looking directly at other drivers.

**John:** Both men and wom-, oh, sorry, no, uh, it was women who said you had to tell someone when you were due to get to a particular destination.

**John:** Then, I had thought that it would be mainly men, but both sexes made the point that it's much safer to get keys out well in advance as you go towards your car.

**John:** Men were very aware that muggers or whatever might be concealed behind the car.

**John:** They also made the point that you should leave plenty of room when you park your car.

**John:** So you can make a quick getaway if you need to.

**John:** Finally, locking doors at all times.

**John:** Men didn't think it was quite as important as women, but both gave it a high safety rating.

**John:** When we asked them what they thought the best improvements had been in the last five years in helping with road rage problems.

**Announcer:** That is the end of section 4.

**Announcer:** You will now have half a minute to check your answers.

[Practice Research on Car Safety](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/research-on-car-safety)