Rogue drivers

Roadblocks set up by Safer Neighbourhood Teams are using Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to trap the drivers, whose cars can be impounded immediately and can be disposed of. It is estimated that the teams could catch 70,000 drivers this year.

Even this is just a fraction of the more than 375,000 drivers in London thought to be uninsured - one in eight of the total. They represent a real danger to other drivers, to say nothing of cyclists and pedestrians: not only are those injured by them unable to obtain proper compensation, but research elsewhere suggests that those willing to flout the law on insuring their cars are also more likely to commit a variety of other offences.

The police are using ever-more-sophisticated speed cameras and backing more intrusive laws, yet this project shows that they already have the powers to tackle most crime on the roads. When they do not do so, that signals to criminals that they can get away with petty crime with little fear of being caught and punished - the biggest deterrent to crime.

We urgently need more initiatives like this one to reimpose order on the capital's roads, where standards of driving and safety are often aggressive and dangerous. Law-abiding drivers can only welcome such a crackdown.