Background to this compendium
The issue of mobile phone use
The issue of mobile phone use by drivers is only just beginning to receive
the attention it deserves . Unfortunately it already has many of the hallmarks of past battles , with drink driving and speeding for example , as it shares many of the same features : relatively widespread disregard for the law and the reasoning behind it , limited or only localised enforcement capability , and a population unused to ( and sometimes hostile to ) police attention in the role of offender ¹ ². The challenges posed by distracting technologies in vehicles are only going to increase in number and complexity , and we certainly can ’ t wait for autonomous vehicles to arrive in the hopes they will solve all our problems .
The Mobile : Engaged research project
With sharing and improving practice at the heart of the research project ,
our aim was to understand the wealth of innovative activity in the area of tackling mobile phone use by drivers , and to support that activity by bringing academics and practitioners together . We identified and mapped a range of innovations being implemented throughout the UK , then contacted the people behind them and met with them to offer advice on using research to generate research-informed practice , and on methods for evaluating their activities . None of this would have been possible without the Road Safety Trust , who saw the potential in our approach and funded this project . We are very grateful for their support .
The Mobile : Engaged compendium
Based on the outcomes of our many meetings , we have developed this compendium to help share what we have learned , and what we have contributed , with others that we weren ’ t able to meet . We hope it will be useful for a range of professionals in areas of policing , road safety , education , engineering and beyond .
“ Our meeting with the Mobile : Engaged team was very helpful in encouraging us to think about the ways that research could inform what we were planning to do .”
Sgt . West Midlands Police Road Harm Reduction Team
“ Your recommendations will be invaluable in helping us to develop a new , more co-ordinated and streamlined young driver intervention for young people in South Yorkshire .”
Safer Roads Manager South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership
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¹ Wells , H ., ( 2008 ). The techno-fix versus the fair cop : Procedural ( in ) justice and automated speed limit enforcement . The British Journal of Criminology , 48 ( 6 ), pp . 798-817 .
² Wells , H . and Wills , D ., ( 2009 ). Individualism and identity : Resistance to speed cameras in the UK . Surveillance and Society .