Thumbs-up for hitchhiking scheme

Hitchhikers in the Loire-Atlantique can rest their weary thumbs, after the department decided to set-up a number of designated hitchhiking points as part of a trial that is set to last a year.

So far, four experimental 'stop-points' have been set up on the RD923 and RD723, near Ancenis, Saint-Géréon and Loireauxence to the east of Nantes, where the practice is quite common.

They have been installed on a wide hard shoulder, so that travellers are safe while they wait for a kind-hearted driver to offer them a lift. The hitchhiking areas even have suggestion boxes so that drivers and travellers can air their views.

Meanwhile, 15,000 vehicles have used 200 carpooling areas set up by the department as part of an environmental travel drive.