Vehicles of control: the securitisation of surveillant automobility in the United Kingdom

This paper explores how in the United Kingdom, traffic regulatory systems, cars, and our culture of automobility have been subsumed within a security agenda. Scholars have begun to examine the overlaps between mobilities and security studies, particularly in the context of topics such as migration and terrorism, framing security as a prerequisite to automobility. But little security-mobility research explores how drivers, and the population at large, are themselves securitised through institutions of automobility. The paper details how “surveillant automobility” has manifested in the seemingly mundane traffic systems of the UK, and the deficient transparency and accountability these systems afford. This paper uses government statistics and industry data to support an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, combining mobilities, security, regulatory and Foucauldian approaches.