Daniel Barlow wrote:
Paul Weaver writes:

[Boardman] said: "People just do not feel safe on the roads.
Only when you get criminals attempting to intimidate. IME that's bus
drivers and van drivers

Bus drivers, van drivers, BMW drivers, taxi drivers, private hire
vehicle drivers ...

I don't know that they're necessarily criminals (you could argue that
intimidation of this kind is common assault, but I doubt you'd make it
stick) but I have been the target of attempted intimidation by all the
above in recent months. Taxi drivers in particular - I'm sorry if
anyone reading this is a cabbie and feels slighted by my
generalisation, but an unrepresentative minority of your colleagues
really are making you all look like tits, and the PCO are toothless.

spindrift wrote:
Number of cycle commuters in the UK= 1m

Number of uninsured drivers on UK roads= 1.2m.
Interesting statistics, any links to back that up?

Brake claims 1.2 million uninsured drivers based on a DfT consultation
from 2004, though I believe this figure is heading downwards as more
effort is being made to catch them

http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=709#_ftn1

Five minutes work with Google failed to find a source for the former,
though. Perhaps someone else can help.

From:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/miud...ntheukb?page=1
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/miud...ngintheuka.pdf

WHAT IS THE SCALE OF UNINSURED DRIVING IN THE UK?
3.5 The honest answer to this question is that we do not know for
certain, for a
very obvious reason: those who drive whilst intentionally avoiding taking
out insurance cover are hardly likely to self-refer. There is, however, a
range of evidence from survey sources, conviction records and industry
estimates from which we can build a picture. Specifically:
• DVLA’s most recent survey estimates that almost 6% of registered vehicles
do not have valid vehicle excise duty. It is likely that the overwhelming
majority of these vehicles are being driven by drivers who do not have third
party cover.
• The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), using information based on the MIB levy,
the number of cases they deal with and (limited) information on the number
of cases which insurance companies settle themselves, estimate that up to
6% of vehicles on UK roads are being driven uninsured.
• The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimates that 5% of drivers are
uninsured.
• In its 2004 annual report on motoring, the RAC estimated that 5% of
motorists were driving uninsured and that the number was on a rising
trend.
From this data, a defensible (but probably conservative) estimate of 5% is
reasonable. Moreover, it would appear that the phenomenon is on the

increase and at current levels adds up to a significant social problem with,
as we shall see, significant associated costs.

continued