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This article reports on a European transportation project called the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTE) that will wirelessly link cars into autonomous convoys called platoons. The plan would reduce congestion, lower fuel consumption, improve highway safety, and free time for drivers and commuters. Information is provided on platoon technology and the environmental benefits of reducing drag.

The article looks at the increasing amount of traffic congestion in America. What is the price of America's love affair with the car? According to a recent "urban mobility study" from the Texas Transportation Institute, it adds up to $63.1 billion a year (plus another $1.7 billion if the latest petrol prices are included) in wasted time and fuel. Most drivers would add an emotional cost in frayed nerves. After all, who wants to spend 44% of their daily commute--the figure for the regions around Los Angeles and Washington, DC--in a crawl? Most sufferers have no choice. As cities sprawl first into suburbs and then into car-dependent "exurbs", the daily commute becomes an ever more painful fact of life. What, if anything, can be done about it? More public transport? Some of America's train and subway systems have been successful, notably San Francisco's BART. But they cost a fortune. In the end, virtually all the solutions involve making drivers pay. Politicians could reduce that congestion by charging motorists more for the petrol they guzzle and the roads they use.

The article reports that the great advantage of having a former chief secretary to the Treasury as transport secretary is that he knows a thing or two about raising money. This week economist John MacGregor launched a debate on a scheme which could, in the medium term, turn Great Britain's motorways into money-earners by charging motorists to drive on them. The transport secretary thinks Britain needs more roads, and therefore wants to extract more money from road-users. Economists like the idea of charging motorists for the costs that traffic jams impose the environment and the community.