The rise in cost of motoring is making drivers consider car-sharing in a bid to reduce their expenditure according to new research.Leading green car advisory publication, TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk polled the opinion of website visitors to reveals today that 43 per cent of UK motorist would consider car-sharing. While concerns for safety or maybe just the inconvenience associated with car-sharing maybe deterring an equal 43 per cent of those polled. While others would look for incentives to taking on a passenger with 14 per cent saying they would car-share if there were car-sharing lanes available to make it worth their while. In 2006, 60 per cent of journeys were single occupancy rising to 85 per cent for both commuting and business car trips according to the Department for Transport (DfT) statistics. Cars make up the majority of the growth in road traffic over the last few decades, rising by 87 per cent since 1980. Car-sharing lanes could be a efficient way to reduce wasted fuel, reduce the frustration caused by ever-rising congestion on Britain’s roads while making drivers conscious of a wasteful one-person-per-car society that we are currently so adjusted to seeing. Faye Sunderland, Editor for TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk says; “It is a shame that it is so ingrained into the British psyche to accept a society of daily, solo commutes, when for many it would not be too inconvenient to share our journeys with a work colleague.“Car-sharing has fantastic potential especially if we see investment into high-occupancy lanes rather than just constant penalising of the UK’s motorists.“Our poll has shown to further car-sharing schemes, we must offer some further encouragement to drivers.” However Car-Sharing or Car Pool lanes also known as High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes have been criticised on a number of points, firstly according to the AA, there have been instances of people charging drivers to be passengers, additionally there is the temptation for people to unnecessarily become a passenger on a journey despite not needing to travel. Concerns about the safety of HOV lanes such as the problem of traffic leaving and entering the motorway, affected the decision to cancel plans to introduce a HOV lane on a section of the M1 earlier this year. Additionally some drivers try and fool the cameras used to police HOV lanes by putting a dummy in the passenger seat or a picture against the windscreen. The development of a camera known as Cyclops or Dtect that can sense living people to prevent this kind of deception are still being introduced across such schemes. There has been some support for the use of bus lanes as high occupancy lanes, while in other parts of the country, the hard shoulder has been adopted as a HOV lane. Trails of these HOV lanes have taken place in various parts of the country, including in Leeds and Birmingham however other trials have been dropped. “There are some issues with HOV lanes that need ironing out. However, there is no reason why we can’t take the initiative and start car sharing with our work colleagues. Even without special lanes, the opportunity to save money on motoring and do your bit for the environment is attraction enough for a lot of people”, concludes Sunderland.