Traffic Jam

Trama

On a Saturday morning in August, traffic on a long section of the M1 has come to a standstill. A minor collision in roadworks near Luton has had a huge knock-on effect. Within an hour there are five more pile-ups and a 13-mile tailback. Tempers and radiators are at boiling point. Every day hundreds of thousands of caravans, lorries and day-trippers travel this stretch of the M1, Britain's busiest motorway, and they have to negotiate the crashes and the contraflows. Inside Story steps smartly through the barrier of cones to find out who is responsible for the chaos on Britain's roads, and asks, on behalf of every motorist: "Why does no one seem to be working in the coned-off lane?"