MIB and our partners, ranging from 43 UK police forces to insurers and government agencies, have been working together to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on UK roads. In fact by working in partnership the level of uninsured driving has reduced by around 50% in the last 10 years from 2 million to 1 million.

Two key measures have contributed to this achievement enabling authorities to tackle the issue on a scale that had not been seen before. In 2005 the police were given the power to seize a vehicle for having no insurance. Six years later, through the introduction of Continuous Insurance Enforcement, it became an offence to be the registered keeper of a vehicle which is not insured.

We know that a visible police presence on our roads makes an impact in tackling uninsured driving. A renewed focus by the police to target uninsured driving resulted in 2016 being an outstanding year in terms of the number of vehicles seized by the police for this offence. In total 145,000 vehicles were seized across the UK in 2016 and MIB’s Police Helpline played a role in supporting this enforcement activity.

The true value of any partnership is in the willingness to listen to each other’s perspective and engage in ways to mutually make progress. The first national week of police action in 2016 aimed at combatting motorists without insurance was one such collaboration. MIB conceived the idea but it took the governance of the National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum and the willingness of forces across the UK to make it a success. The week of action made an impact. It resulted in the highest number of vehicles seized by the police in a one-week period with 1138 seizures while extensive national and regional media coverage shone a spotlight on the issue. It will now be an annual event contributing not just to reducing uninsured driving but to general road safety. This opens the door for other road safety partners to join the initiative.

Highlighting not only the impact but the collective social responsibility to drive a vehicle with insurance is the theme of our Gone in Seconds awareness campaign. Our campaign seeks to draw upon the ability of others to influence those who choose to drive without insurance to help create safer roads and communities. Winning the battle for the hearts and minds of people to change their behaviour can take a generation but we and our partners will continue to stand together, resolute in our efforts.

"Renewed focus by the police to target uninsured driving resulted in 2016 being an outstanding year – in total 145,000 uninsured vehicles were seized by police for driving without insurance."