My right hon. Friend says how boring; I see life entirely differently. He is of course a driving enthusiast, and has the most magnificent machines to drive. I drive one of the smallest and cheapest cars in the United Kingdom, and hate driving. I cannot think of anything more delicious than being able to lock in and leave the machine to it while I am reading, listening to music, or talking to my wife. I think all of those things are much nicer than driving, but there we are—tastes differ, chacun à son goût.

My point is, whether we like it or not, we are likely to be in that condition in the future. Once that starts being the case on motorways, Governments and Parliaments—regardless of the political colour of the Administration—will be ineluctably driven to mandate those circumstances, because the efficiency with which motorways can be used will multiply by some considerable factor. Therefore, the amount of motorway building that needs to go on, a significant component of total capital expenditure in the UK budget, will reduce by some appreciable factor. We will clearly be driven in that direction if the technology permits, and it may very well do so.

Given all that, there is a chance that there will at some point be some mega problem, potentially involving thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of cars, if the technology is not perfect. We all hope it will be, but it probably will not. It may happen on only very few occasions—perhaps far less frequently than crashes today—and perhaps the problems will have far less significance. I am not prophesying doom and gloom. Nevertheless, these events could be very complicated and very large in scale. They could be much more like what happens when there is a natural disaster, when there is flooding all over the place and thousands of people are seeking insurance claims, than what happens with the normal traffic accidents that we are used to, in which one, two, five or 10 vehicles are involved.

It would be worth hearing from the Minister that somebody has at least gone through this and ensured that if there were such a massive concertina affair everybody would be clear about the problems that the hon. Member for Eltham raises. Which insurers will, in the first instance, pay out? I am not concerned about everybody settling it between themselves. We all want to ensure that the injured parties get their money quickly and that no insured party is unjustly treated, has to pay up a large amount of money and has to go to court to recapture it. It is worth thinking this through for clarity, even in the event of a massive concertina crash. I hope the Minister will tell us that he has done that, that he is going to do it or that some independent group is going to do it so we do not lose sight of this issue.