Traffic congestion in Britain could be eased if it weren't for the nation's addiction to the absurd cult of the lone driver. But let's face it, sharing cars is something the British just don't do. Next Monday morning the streets will be overflowing with cars once again, most with spare seats front and back, and there will be few lifts on offer for those friends or colleagues who have no choice but to trudge through fumes or jostle in bus queues. Many drivers, it seems, echo the view of one former transport minister who observed, albeit light-heartedly, that with cars 'you have your own company, your own temperature control and your own choice of music — and you don't have to put up with dreadful human beings sitting alongside you.' Many a true word, it seems, is said in jest. Indeed, sharing would threaten the very independence that makes the car such an attractive option in the first place. Offer a colleague a regular lift and you're locked into a routine as oppressive as any other, with all individual flexibility lost. So, what's in it for the driver? But even in a motor-obsessed city such as Los Angeles, drivers have been won over by the idea of car-sharing. It is attractive because cars with more than one occupant are allowed access to fast-moving priority lanes. So desirable are these amid the six lanes of jam-packed traffic that, in the early days, Californian students charged motorists several dollars a time to pick them up.