If you’ve been ‘on the road’ for a decade or two, you’ll almost certainly have experienced a change in driver's attitudes towards compliance of U.K Road and Driving Laws.
In the most recent of years, attention has turned to speeding in towns and villages with many parts of the country now imposing mandatory 20mph limits in built up areas. Whilst there was a public outcry at first, and perhaps through constant ‘policing’ of these areas with camera vans and the such like, attitudes do seem to have softened slightly with drivers now more accepting of the law, and (at least) the reasoning behind it.
But speed limits weren’t the only recent change or amendment to driving law that initially riled the public, but which subsequently found the support of most. We are of course referring to mobile phone handset use at the wheel. With much higher penalties having been introduced recently, and with most modern cars actually having ‘hands free’ built in by default anyway, there really is no excuse to be fidgeting with your phone at the wheel. And let’s face it, we’ve all followed somebody hogging a lane, or oblivious to what’s going on around them who then transpire as you pass them, to be texting or handling their small screen.
And public attitudes to this has gone from disbelief of the law itself to online vigilantes, often on bikes, recording offenders as they pull up alongside on their helmet cam. These videos are often encouraged by Police forces to be submitted for analysis and potential prosecution, and many do, and are. Many make it to social media.
But we’ve been looking at modern day issues here. Several decades ago, seatbelts, or at least the wearing of seatbelts, wasn’t even mandatory, but when the law came in, bit by bit starting with the driver and then subsequently passengers having to wear belts, there was initial resistance, no pun intended. But maybe seatbelts were a little different because at the time, unlike 20mph speed limits, there were television campaigns explaining the huge safety benefits of buckling up. Clunk, click, every trip. The public were still slow to comply, but there did seem to be sympathy or understanding at least.
And cars were forced to manufacture with belts beyond a certain age and thus just the driver simply needed to comply. No hands free kits to buy.
Perhaps the most ridiculously contentious social and legal changes are the attitudes towards drink driving. It’s fair to say it’s now an established cliche to hear ‘it used to be alright in the olden days’ or ‘it’s only one drink’. But, and perhaps because the younger generation are more likely to abstain from alcohol generally anyway, there has been a real hardening of attitudes over the years towards though who do decide to chance it with pub landlords and the general public willingly reporting offenders. Just a pint? Why, as there are so many good alcohol-free alternatives anyway. But, drug driving is actually now said to be worse than drink driving, and drugs can stay in the bloodstream for longer than alcohol, so perhaps the next television, or rather still maybe social media targeted government campaign, should be considering this? Is social media the answer to changing the public attitudes?