THE busiest section of motorway would have a lane dedicated to drivers carrying at least one passenger under a Government proposal to tackle congestion.

The carpool lane on the M25, between the M4 and M3, would initially be enforced by police but cameras may be used later. Motorists travelling alone who strayed into the lane would be liable for a £30 fixed penalty.

The lane could be introduced next year after this section of the M25, between junctions 12 and 15, has been widened to six lanes each way.

The Department for Transport believes that the carpool lane will ensure that the widened road does not simply fill up with extra traffic.

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, has ordered the Highways Agency to study the benefits on several sections of motorway. Mr Darling was impressed by the lanes on a trip to Los Angeles last year.

Some Californian drivers have gone to extraordinary lengths to take advantage of faster journey times on the lanes, including buying blow-up dolls and hiring children to sit beside them.

Mr Darling said: “Carpool lanes have an important role to play in making best use of road space, as well as helping the environment and reducing congestion. They work in the US and there is no reason they can’t work here.”

The agency is studying several other potential sites for carpool lanes, including the M1 between junctions 7 and 10 (St Albans to Luton), the M61 junctions 3-6 (near Bolton), the M62 junctions 25-27 (Brighouse to Leeds) and several more sections of the M25 that are due to be widened.

The RAC Foundation said that the M25 was the wrong place. Edmund King, the foundation’s director, said: “This section of the M25 is used for thousands of different types of journey. It would be very difficult to match up car sharers.

“People who will use the lane would have been car sharing anyway and therefore it will do nothing to reduce congestion.”

Mr King said that many carpool lanes in the US had been converted to toll lanes because they were underused. They have been dubbed “Lexus lanes” because of the perception that only richer drivers can afford to use them.

The AA Motoring Trust said that parking areas would have to be created beside motorways where people could transfer to shared vehicles.

A Friends of the Earth spokesman said: “We shouldn’t use providing car-share lanes as a backdoor reason for widening motorways.”

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