The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) and Brunel Law School are hosting a conference which will review the effectiveness of methods used to encourage people to comply with road traffic law.
Given the emphasis in the Government’s Strategic Framework on better behaviour on the roads, PACTS and Brunel have come together to organise ‘Achieving Compliance’ to inform the road safety community about what still needs to be done. The conference will look at all aspects of the process from enforcement through to the effectiveness of sentencing.
The one day event on 13 June will be held at Brunel University and will cost £120 for PACTS members, or £150 for non-members.
Click here for more information.
A brick wall can have a “serious negative effect” on your head. However, millions of people manage to avoid this daily by simply looking out for brick walls and treating them with appropriate respect. The same strategy will work for traffic calming and speed cameras. I agree that lack of enforcement is leading to disrespect for traffic laws. You only have to visit a Primary School at home time to see how the self-interest of motorists, many of whom might otherwise be completely responsible, takes over when it comes to getting closest to the school gate. The current National strategy depends on there being more, bigger penalties but fewer resources to catch offenders. Given that even the death penalty didn’t stop murderers, this logic is clearly flawed. In accepting a driver’s licence you agree by implication to abide by the highway code; this is in the interests of everyone’s safety. Why shouldn’t you be held to account if you don’t?
Tim Philpot, Wolverhampton
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Sometimes enforcement is the only thing that will change a person’s opinion of safe driving. It is a tool to be used as when found committing, a police officer cannot or should not close his eyes if an offence is seen by him. He has a responsibility to act and failure to do so would be in breach of police regulations plus it’s an injustice that allows law breakers to continue to break the law with apparent impunity. The problem is that the modern police officer is ill equiped to enforce such laws as he is not taught them. There seems to be little traffic law enforcement and as a result it’s therefore understandable that such laws are held in disrepute and constantly and consistantly broken.
bob craven Lancs
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I hope that the conference will consider the effect on safety of enforcement as it is known that many interventions can have serious negative effects on safety. Speed humps that damage steering, tyres and suspension is one example, and speed cameras triggering distraction and sudden braking is another. PACTS should be on the side of safety, not enforcement, when there is conflict.
Eric Bridgstock, Independent Road Safety Research, St Albans
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