How can reckless teenage driving be prevented?

I said it on another thread on here but TikTok and other apps, (maybe even all phones) should have AI built in that recognises when you are inside a moving vehicle and prevents video live-streaming and recording.

Ditto Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Norfolk

I only teach part time, 1st and 2nd year university students. They are frustrating and amazing in equal measure! I have a teenage daughter and am involved in a lot of school events that put me in front of a whole load of students of different ages. We are all agreed that S3s (14/15) are the absolute worst. Unfortunately this is the group that tend to hang about on the streets and give young people a bad name 🤦🏻‍♀️ But get to know them and they are pretty decent, they just get over excited when there are a lot of them together. A bit like puppies. 😆 Give them a year or two and they start to really shine.

Completely.

Sick to death of the fuckers. Nothing can apparently be done about them while they make the rest of our lives' miserable. It extends to more low level stuff too - seems to permeate the whole of life, making a noisier, more aggressive, scarier, swearier vibe. Things like charging round at night on their horrible noisy trail bikes, modified cars in town making their exhausts bang on purpose while pumping out incredibly loud shite from their modified stereos. It seems they think they lack kudos or power unless they're actively making lots of people's lives worse.

agree. and waiting for the stream of comments about how they were the nicest most wonderful sons/brothers/grandsons etc. I am just getting sick of it. At some point we have to say, they can't have been that great with their long list of previous charges and convictions. Families travelling to the airport. Police Officers doing their job. Lives destroyed. Some didn't get any choice or say in that outcome and some did.

Shame in small, manageable amounts can set social standards, which I suspect is what you mean.

But shame as your overriding emotion - to the point you leave the country over the actions of your child- is incredibly damaging.

its you saying you are inherently flawed or unworthy, inherently bad, not you focusing on a fixable mistake.
You have no way to fix that your adult child killed someone, so it’s not a helpful emotion. It will eat away at you and can lead to all sorts of mental health consequences. Consequences that impact you, not anyone else.

Motorway driving is a completely different skill. I paid for additional motorway lessons for both my DSs after they passed their tests but it should be compulsory.

There's no deterent, for anything is there now? So small offences get a rapped knuckle, ignored, then ramp up. Wonder why we once had a death penalty or a fear of the law, I don't and that's because it seems we can't keep order unless there's fear. Just my view, but seems nothing works without a fear of someone or something in our society of late, whether parents, school...

I was ashamed of how dirty my kitchen had I got. I cleaned it. Shame gone.

We have a problem family in our street. They've been jailed for drugs and guns and are back to their old tricks (I report everything to the police).

But to stop it you essentially have to blow apart an entire huge family, keep the babies and kids apart from their relatives for life and have them adopted into sensible families. The parents are thick and criminal, so their adult kids are thick and criminal and so are the youngsters. They must have their own filing cabinet at social services.

I think if my ds ever killed someone the way these boys have I’d already be damaged - I don’t think feeling further shame would be an issue.

But I’m interested in your POV over this.

Why do you think shame in some circumstances shame is damaging?

I’ve felt ashamed of myself on a low level throughout my life and made positive changes as a result. I’ve not felt damaged by it.

It’s an interesting conversation.

omg you’ve reminded me of the joy riding epidemic in the 90s! Steal a MG maestro with half a tennis ball, hot wire and doughnuts all night with the older ladies on the estate bringing them out flasks of tea 😭 2026 angst doesn’t know it’s born

Interestingly the police have conducted a good few arrests around the organised crime associated with the vehicle theft, including firearms offences.
Its almost like criminals are going to be criminals.
Its a shame two of their own have to die before the police look into these cretins with the scrutiny they deserve.

Not even a slap on the wrist.

From the BBC website
"Court records show 18-year-old Makai Saddington pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and of causing racially aggravated alarm or distress to another in Middlesbrough on 9 June.
He appeared before Teesside Magistrates’ Court on 17 July charged with the offences and was given a conditional discharge for 12 months on both offences (concurrent) and ordered to pay the police officer £50 compensation."

Well done Magistrates.

This case is a hard one as it is so extreme, but if the UK wanted to cut collision deaths it could. There isn’t a silver bullet but there are lots of things that would help.

1. Adopting the Vision Zero approach to road design, which has reduced fatalities elsewhere by reducing conflict between road users. I don’t know if this would stop drivers been able to drive the wrong way down motorways, but I’ve definitely seen motorways in the Netherlands that have been designed to stop people doing a last minute change of lane (when you have to choose which direction you want to go in) by putting bollards between the lanes.
2. Changing attitudes towards driving offences - there was really interesting research recently about victims of driving offences feeling as if this is not seen as a proper crime even when there are fatal or otherwise horrific consequences. As said earlier, offenders aren’t always youths - where I live we have a real problem with speeding often by people rushing to work. Mobile phone use is another one. I had an awful experience cycling with DS some years back where a middle-aged woman was driving down my street on her phone. I really doubt that that woman sees herself as a criminal in the same way that the rush hour speeders probably do not - except that they are & have just been lucky that they have avoided collisions so far. This also comes through in the crime reports when there are always excuses of poor mental health / family problems / needing the car for work or to drive DC & the use of those excuses needs to be looked at. I would also support longer driving bans & compulsory Bikeability for offenders. The media also need to start following the reporting guidelines on collisions so that collisions are reported in a more neutral manner.
3. Challenging the narrative that drivers are victims - I can think of a few local streets where the driving has been so bad that eventually the council has just stopped through traffic. My council tends to put this off for as long as possible but eventually they have to face up to the dangerous driving (eg speeding; tailgating; ignoring road signs) & shut the road to cars. Despite this there’s an endless narrative on local social media that this is the fault of the “clowncil” or “the cyclists” or “the residents” - anyone except the drivers who were actually at fault. Councils could also be a lot less squeamish about cutting through access - it’s something I definitely remember happening in the 90s when there was the trouble with joyriding.
4. Stronger political leadership on road safety - both older & young drivers have been mentioned on this thread & they are two other issues that the Government needs to deal urgently with due to some horrible collisions. Electric motorbikes (“e-bikes”) is another one - there’s a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Walking & Cycling group that has made lots of recommendations on this that could be adopted. (That said, I do think that both Heidi Alexander & Louise Haigh have been an improvement on some previous ministers).
5. More road police too and standardising best practice across forces.

Re SM and TikTok it probably is a factor, doing stupid stuff for content has become more attractive. First up limit the impact on innocent citizens who are not doing this.

Not sure how, but the very sad part is when other people lose family members due to the antics of some.

I'm willing to be proven wrong but I'd bet money that this wasn't the first time the driver had an encounter with the police.

I think it’s really complex.

Changes to the law won’t make any difference to those who don’t respect the law.

It is far more nuanced than just changing the law. There will be hundreds of factors that have impacted these boys/men since birth - poor parenting, lack of boundaries, poverty, repeating generational cycles. One of the men involved in the Ireland crash was under the care of Tusla, and two others were known to them. They were fucked from the moment they were born. Add to that social media and the constant need for likes and validation.

None of that means my sympathies lie anywhere other than with the families of the innocent victims in the two incidents. I don’t know what the answer is I really don’t.

I have just read that several people, men and women, have been arrested in connection with events leading to the A66 crash.

The rate of joyriding is at a historical low at the moment, no need for a draconian response or something to affect all law abiding young drivers.

Just target those who continue to break the law.

You have misunderstood or misinterpreted my views.

Criminal underclass is anyone that is a criminal - it isn’t linked to class as you are suggesting.

I will ‘look down my nose’ at all criminals though. They do not deserve any respect.

There is a difference between reckless teen driving and a violent criminal gang committing various serious offences, as this group were, according to the BBC.

One of them was 23, I’m not sure how you’d manage that tbh. At 23 quite honestly he was an idiot on the road and knew the risks he was taking.
for new drivers it should be no passengers for a year, then limited numbers but again at 23 he could’ve had a licence for six year by then.

there are some people in this world who are just idiots and their behaviour sadly impacts many others

I'm sure it won't go down well, but sterilize criminals---and also the scrotes that produce them. It might make parents a bit more responsible and their offspring won't be producing yet another generation of low-lifes. Yes, it's eugenics, but those who shit on the idea of being part of a civilized society should face horrible consequences