Lane discipline, the hard way

Reports in The Times suggest that congestion on motorways can be reduced by using the hard-shoulder as a fourth lane as a cheap alternative to road widening. Proponents say the scheme will increase capacity by a third at a fraction of the cost of building an extra lane, if a pilot scheme proves successful.

Drivers who break down on the motorway will be able to pull into new emergency refuges, built at 500-metre intervals. Access to the hard shoulder will be controlled via a series of gantries, sensors under the road surface detect congestion and alert a control centre. Screens on the gantries will direct drivers to use the hard shoulder.

Goodness, that does sound like a cheap solution. A nationwide project to build lay-bys and fit the network with embedded sensors and screens.

There is a cheaper - dare I suggest free solution, already being employed all over France and Germany. Pull the fuck over! Pull over you monumental cunt. Just learn to drive and if everyone joins in all our journeys will be swift.

Of course under my system there will be a roving patrol of enforcement vehicles and snipers posted on bridges.