Case Study : Operation Tramline continued ...
are used for ‘ spying ’, but most forces promote their use of the cabs via social and other forms of media . If you are thinking of doing this , spend a moment or two thinking about messaging and what it communicates . Firstly , if you promote a two-week operation , what are you saying about the other 50 weeks of the year ? Are you saying “ we have no resource to catch you normally ”? This is where the normative , educational angles we described at the start of this section come in . If we can ’ t ‘ Tramline ’ all year round , what is controlling people ’ s behaviour when the cabs are elsewhere in the country ? This is where engagement activities are particularly valuable and wellthought-out promotion work is essential .
Lorry drivers are not the only road users who may be deterred by Operation Tramline . Our work with a local RPU suggested that , increasingly , it is car drivers that are being identified by Operation Tramline . If this is the case nationally , then promotion work needs to take into account this new audience - so that they can be informed and hence deterred .
Methods of enforcement Tramline uses police officers to identify drivers breaking the law , and in that sense may be viewed as an enforcement strategy . But Tramline ‘ enforcement ’ can take lots of forms and isn ’ t simply about fines and points ( it ’ s common , in fact , to see ‘ enforcement ’ used to mean ‘ prosecution ’ but it ’ s not the same thing ). Enforcing the law means using the law as the trigger for action - it doesn ’ t dictate what we do with the people that we catch and there are a number of options that officers using Tramline will use as appropriate . For example , and depending on the offences , a diversionary course could be offered . Even an educational chat at the side of the road is a form of enforcement according to its dictionary definition , or the consequences for a driver of breaching a company policy would also qualify .
“ Due to Operation Tramline running the previous week , word has spread amongst the roads community . This is also positive because very few ‘ no seatbelt ’ offences were detected and a clear message is being sent to the community regarding road safety ” Wiltshire Police
We ’ ve also talked here about ‘ lorry drivers ’ but we wouldn ’ t want to encourage the idea that we think all lorry drivers are offenders . The ‘ social media ’ section of this compendium gives some tips on how to address our audience , for example demonstrating that most lorry drivers ( in this case ) are law-abiding and support what we are doing . We ’ re focused on the small minority who put other road users at risk and we know that most professional drivers are exactly that - professional .
116