By Helen Wells
New figures revealing the number of fines issued for bus
lane and ‘yellow box’ offences (amongst other things) by London drivers have received
widespread news coverage today. The reporting has, predictably, focused on the
injustice of punishing drivers for breaking the law. The RAC has contributed to
this narrative by suggesting that there is something inherently devious about
punishing drivers without giving them due warning, or for enforcing laws for ‘minor’
breaches (the definition of which is unclear). Generally speaking, such
injustice and unfairness narratives have typified any attempts to encourage
drivers to obey the law in recent years, with the heated debate about speed
cameras being only one example. An RAC spokeswoman also suggested that "Motorists
are generally law abiding and want to obey the rules." Statistics suggest,
however, that such a law-abiding identity is more attractive than it is
realistic, with drivers keen to resist the implication of law-breaking even
when evidence suggests otherwise. Indeed, it is common for the law, the
enforcement methods, the motives of the enforcers, or all three, to be called
into question as part of the efforts of the ‘law-abiding’ to resist the
implication that they are otherwise. What strikes me as interesting in this
current reporting is that, with drivers encouraged to see themselves as ‘targeted’,
‘milked’ and ‘persecuted’ (depending on your choice of news source), the fact
that offending drivers are offending against, inconveniencing, delaying or
endangering each other seems to be
effectively overlooked. Drivers are encouraged to think of themselves as a
united bunch, and not to think of other offending motorists as obstructions or
obstacles to their free and safe passage (as the enforcement rationale would
encourage us to see them). Whilst the ‘oppressed majority’ narrative may be
sustainable in the case of speeding (where drivers may be able to view other
speeding drivers as facilitating their own speedy journey, and where slow
drivers are more likely to come in for censure), such a stance in relation to
offences that give other drivers an unfair advantage (bus lane incursions) or
which cause other drivers to be delayed (yellow box offences) is surprisingly
popular.
Such narratives were the focus of my recent presentation to
the Road Safety Scotland annual seminar in Edinburgh, and a report on that
presentation was published last week in the Road Safety Scotland newsletter Direction which can be found here.
