The challenge of enforcement
Enforcement relies on the idea of deterrence : the idea that people will be put off from doing bad things because they believe they will be caught and punished , and / or because they see other people being caught and punished . Having weighed up the costs and benefits of doing the bad thing , we hope that they then come to the conclusion that it isn ’ t worth it . Many factors influence the cost-benefit analysis that takes place , and there are many different ways that the costs of the behaviour can be explained . For some people , the fear of getting caught and punished may be the only thing that influences their behaviour .
We know that deterrence is most effective when ; detection is very likely ; the punishment is significant ; and that this whole process follows on quickly from the offence . Unfortunately we also know that , in respect of the first element of this - detection - many road users are pretty convinced that they are not going to get caught 1 . This means that we can threaten them with
very quick and very severe punishments as much as we like - if they don ’ t believe they ’ ll get caught , none of this is relevant .
We don ’ t have a handy gadget that we can use to guarantee drivers don ’ t use their phones , so we need to supplement our enforcement with efforts at persuading people why they should not break the law . If we can get this right , then ( theoretically ) we wouldn ’ t need enforcement because the desire not to offend would come from inside the individual ( see p59 ). Fortunately , we also know that there are ways of enforcing the law that help to increase these internal motivations as we do it .
Partnership working , leading to consistent campaign messages , may be the best way to ensure that enforcement efforts are backed up by efforts to persuade drivers why the law is the law .
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¹ The AA . ( 2018 ). What ’ s the chance of being caught for a driving offence ? News report . Available from : https :// www . theaa . com / about-us / newsroom / drivingoffence-enforcement .