Land Transport Safety Authority

[angliholic]

A group of Danish inventors have come up with an electronic road sign that can sense changes in road environments and warn drivers of hazardous conditions, ...
Lyndon Hammond, a Land Transport Safety Authority senior engineer, said the signs were unique because they were "all in one" devices that were not only signs for warning drivers, but were able to "look" for dangers.



Land Transport Safety Authority is a foreign and unfamiliar term for me. First, I wonder why it's not Road Transport Safety Authority butLand Transport Safety Authority.
Decond, does Authority refer to Bureau or Service?
Third, does "look" for dangers indicate "watch" for dangers? Thanks.

[Niall]

Firstly, Road transport would cover all transport on roads. Here, it says Land transport, which includes all Transport on roads, and off roads.

Secondly, this use of the word Authority is quite common in names of English organisations. In this case, it is a synonym of the word organisation. It is a little bit more than just an organisation, an authority gives advice to someone, usually the public. So, yes you could say it is a synonym for a Bureau.

Finally, yes, the "look" for dangers means to watch for dangers. The quotation marks are used because the devices can't actaully look, they have no eyes, and can't see - but they do watch for dangers.

I hope I explained clearly enough. Don't hesistate to ask me to explain this further!

[angliholic]

Thanks, Niall, for the absolutely transparent explanation.

There is no room for any doubt or confusion in my part.
By the way, I've never met you on this forum before. Are you an English teacher, for the sake of curiosity/

[Niall]

No, I'm a mathematics and physics student, with an extreme interest in philosophy and modern foreign languages, who does an obsessive amount of reading about etymology, grammar and langauage.