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 well-
thought-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.
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