Case Study : Operation Tramline continued ...
Mobile : Engaged impact
Following their involvement with the Mobile : Engaged project ...
“ We ’ ve realised that the legislation is a big hurdle for us . Officers are inreasingly using the laws relating to a driver not being in proper control of their vehicle , and driving without due care and attention , to make sure that they can get their message across .” ( RPU officer , Surrey ).
Thinking of using Tramline ?
Understanding the specifics of the problem means we are more likely to design interventions that work , so it matters whether the issue here is mobile phone use ( and whether that ’ s for work calls or personal calls ), whether it ’ s for watching videos ( and whether that ’ s driven by boredom , for example ). If we don ’ t understand why people are engaging in the behaviour , we can ’ t be confident that our response is appropriate . Similarly , we need to find out who is using their phone or other device . Is it local drivers , international drivers , are they from particular companies ? Is it older or younger drivers , new or experienced drivers ? Are the companies we are catching big , small , local , regional , national or international ? Fortunately , you are likely to have plenty of wisdom about all these topics via the officers who have been involved in catching offenders in the past and , if that ’ s a bit sketchier than you ’ d like , officers can be tasked with finding out this information when they stop drivers in future . A final angle is to consider the time and location profile of offending . Is it a daytime or nighttime problem , and is it actually a multilane road issue ( if not , you ’ ll need to look elsewhere in this compendium for alternatives to Tramline !)
It might not make sense to use things like social media posts to understand the issue . Whilst there are lots of examples of Tramline catching drivers doing all sorts of things ( like cooking a Pot Noodle ), these are more likely to be the attention-grabbing exceptions than the norm , so don ’ t assume they represent the real problem , or indeed your particular problem .
Highways England run a suite of operations aimed at tackling issues associated with HGVs . It ’ s important to make sure that all the efforts directed at a particular problem in a particular area are ‘ lined up ’ and reinforce each other in terms of their message and approach . This can make it harder to separate out effects , however , so you may want to consider introducing ( and evaluating ) different elements concurrently , not consecutively , so you can build up a picture of which elements are working , and which may not be .
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