How can reckless teenage driving be prevented?

• Make everyone wait until 25 until they can get a licence.
• No-one is allowed out of the house unsupervised until they are 20.

(Not serious suggestions) But even then they would still do it.

You can't prevent it, you have laws regulating driving and appropriate fining and sentencing and appropriate funding and resourcing for the police and justice system to be able to enforce it.

And in any event, the above events were a organised crime problem rather than teenagers "joyriding".

Yes, I agree - people just cannot put themselves in the frame of mind as the career criminals have. It's a bit like when you have a power cut and the first thing that most of us do is to try to switch the light on - because it's just so alien to us not having electricity instantly available.

It's also the equivalent of the supermarket self-service checkouts that scream at you, beep and demand that the assistant verify something, every time they think you might possibly be trying to cheat them; whilst the determined shoplifters just fill up their massive hold-alls and walk out unchallenged, going nowhere near the tills at all.

With this kind of kid, talking to them about driving would quite likely give them ideas to go and try it out. And to the normal well-behaved kids, they'd just be perplexed as they'd know that driving is something that only adults (or very nearly adults) can even start learning to do, so why would you be teaching them about it - any more than you would teach them at that age about arranging a boiler service or checking your tax code?

I think people proposing ‘losing their license forever’ don’t realise they don’t give a shit. To all NORMAL people if we got caught and banned we wouldn’t drive again. They just don’t think like that 🤷‍♀️

there’s half a million uninsured twats on the road, some of them with over 50 points on their licence

Requirements to owners to keep their vehicle secure
That’s right, blame the honest victim as usual. Here are keyless cars, and it’s your fault if they get stolen, should have used a Faraday pouch, innit.

So many of the replies are “tougher roolz for young drivers”. As I said earlier, these idiots were not even thinking about rules. What good is a “lifetime ban” to someone of the Boris Johnson school of “roolz are for foolz”? What we need is actual enforcement of the existing laws.

Lifetime driving bans for the kids. Jail / big fine for the parents.

• Raise the driving age to 21 (obviously this would be very complex)
• Tougher sentences on driving offences. All death by dangerous driving, dangerous driving, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol to be given custodial sentences. No suspended sentences.
• More police patrols/presence.
• All new drivers to have a “black box” by law.
• Any driver caught using their mobile phone to film/take pictures from behind the wheel - automatic 6 month ban.
• All new drivers to complete an in-person dangerous driving course before being able to take a driving test.
• More speed cameras. Higher fines for speeding.
• Police/council to have the authority to clamp cars that belong to drivers who have driving bans/convictions.

Agreed.

The solution is don't raise your kids to be feral little dickheads but unfortunately, absolute twat parents and their offspring seem to be growing exponentially 🙈

That's a really good idea.

Bikeability is on the school curriculum, which includes road safety.

Unfortunately, where I live DC need their own bike to take part, which means inevitably there is a greater uptake in more affluent neighbourhoods. I think other councils provide bikes for the sessions, which is a much fairer & better way of doing things.

I would really like to see Bikeability training become compulsory for anyone with a driving ban. Partly, it’s practical in helping people to adjust to life with a car. It’s also a more practical way to engage with road safety than a course. But there’s also the hope that as you encounter so much poor driving as cyclist (not from all drivers as many are lovely, but enough) that it might give people an insight into why what they have done has been so dangerous that they have ended up with a ban.

Not for their whole school life. The lessons could start age appropriately in primary school.

I'd also put motoring skills and road safety on the national curriculum.

But these are more likely to be persistent absentees, none attenders or excluded from school.

Same as mine currently.

Its crazy. The chase was called off. But there shouldn’t have been a chase because they shouldn’t have been out hunting another gang in a stolen car on dodgy plates full stop.

Never the crims faults though. Always innocent poor babies these chaps.

Hands up to the mum of the other crash who at her own son’s funeral apologised to the victims. The only parent who seems to be able to realise she’s hurt and so are others innocently.

More laws restricting driving won't work. Had these boys been prepared to obey laws they wouldn't have been driving stolen cars above the speed limit and in the wrong direction and failing to stop for the police.
We need to make stealing cars more difficult, thumb print recognition to start them, any tampering causing engine lock down. Perhaps even requirements on car owners to keep their vehicle secure.
I'd also put motoring skills and road safety on the national curriculum.

Lord only knows what their motivation is.

I’ve seen so many posts (damn my FB algorithm) of friend and relatives of the dead calling the 2 police officers murderers. That this wouldn’t happen if they didn’t make chase.

I fear that they actually believe it too. Which in itself is concerning.

People actually seem to think a world where we don’t intercept drivers or people on e bikes and scooters is the desire.

Terrifyinh.

I'd say no. Not until they've had a year of driving. They can't drive their family before they pass the test so no different.

would say ALL under 21s should not be allowed to carry passengers, male or female, at any time.

I don't think this is practical. An under 21yr old could be married with a child. Could they never drive anywhere with their spouse or child?

An intelligence test, required to get a provisional licence. If you’re clearly an utter wingnut you don’t get the provisional until you’ve educated yourself enough to pass.

This is a big problem.

Police have to stop chase due to safety concerns but that actually just lets people think hahaha I beat them can’t chase me here childish stuff.

And as you say the times someone gets hurt it’s the police shouldn’t have been chasing them. Never well the police where doing there job.

It should always be well the criminal was committing a crime and unfortunately they paid the price. Not booo big bad police people.

In this case it seems the car chasing was retaliation for another car ramming their dad’s house.

I agree with all of this but would say ALL under 21s should not be allowed to carry passengers, male or female, at any timer. It’s the showing off to mates which is is huge factor in this horrendous behaviour.

Also, anyone under 25 caught speeding should automatically lose their licence for 2 years and have to retake their test.

I’ll go as far as saying they’re often not raised but dragged up by shit parents. Where I live the issue is kids on illegal motorbikes with no helmets. A boy died a few months ago on one during a police chase. The parents always blame the police for chasing, as happened with this crash. Are they supposed to just let teenagers drive down the wrong side of the motorway in a stolen vehicle then? But then again, this is the level of intellect we’re dealing with.

I agree with you - sorry if that wasn’t clear.

The lack of investment in prison places has been appalling.

I was making a clear link between say the number of prison places and the need to stop moaning about higher taxes. We can’t have large numbers of police officers and enough prison places if we don’t want to pay or we are going to vote out a party that wants to do this.

The background of the youths who died in the A66 accident is awful. Have they served any sentence for their criminality?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/24/masked-youths-fly-balloons-joyrider-killed-wrong-way-crash/

Another five have been arrested as well.

Having taken an interest in road safety for some years, I really don’t think this is a party political issue. Judging by my local councillors, there’s a difference between those who take an interest in road safety & try to understand what works. Their policies are tend to work even if they aren’t always popular (eg cutting through traffic on residential streets will be effective in stopping bad driving behaviour but people will object if it is their favourite shortcut).

The rest either aren’t interested or see the issue as a means of political point-scoring. Locally, I’ve seen this leading to road safety plans being scrapped - the problem is that it doesn’t resolve the original issue that the plans are meant to solve & there is rarely any accountability for this.

On a national level, comparing Boris Johnson & Rishi Sunak is a good example of this. Johnson was either interested in active travel or delegated to people who were & the schemes that were put in under his government were transformational local to me. Obviously, they weren’t popular with everyone as they involved cycle routes &/ cutting motor access but they were effective at stopping dangerous driving.

Sunak’s war against the drivers policy in contrast was popular but was also really damaging as it encouraged a view that drivers are victims - a view that overlooks that drivers get most of the transport budget spent on them & cause the majority of collisions. That sense of victimhood comes through really strongly in objections in local traffic consultations even where there is a clear road safety reason for the council to act.