Crash on A66 that killed two police officers and 5 others…

[bookworm1982]

Am I correct that the other victims were 5 lads travelling in one car the wrong way up the motorway? EXACTLY the same as the 5 Irish lads who died a few days ago travelling the wrong way up a motorway too? Surely not twice in a week? Is there some sort of mental social media thing going on, telling kids to drive up the wrong way? Like a dare? Just cannot believe it happened once, let alone twice. Just devastating.

I was literally reading a Guardian article this morning about this happening in County Kildare in Ireland, and now it has happened in the UK. Apparently it is a trend. Devastating.

www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/22/deadly-tiktok-motorway-driving-trend-horrifies-ireland

This is profoundly troubling.

I am increasingly dismayed by how much social media amplifies such reprehensible behaviour. It needs to be banned.

So very sorry to you and your family

And removing themselves from the gene pool.

Disbelief at someone saying "children doing children things".

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/live-linthwaite-murder-sentence-court-18862796.amp

These two were 16 and 18. Murdered someone in my hometown. Do we let them off because they were just kids? This is vehicular homicide.

I said exactly that in my first post and my post got removed!! Although lots of people have said it since!

My teen told me not to drive country roads as there was a trend on TikTok for driving fast down these roads. (A year ago)

We use the motorway home now.

It's awful for all the families involved. Teenage boys can be impulsive and risk taking despite all the families' efforts. Certainly need more education around driving and the consequences. I've been trying to talk to mine about driving safely for years already but they go through a phase of knowing best. We are not paying for driving lessons until maturity kicks in a bit more. Warned about going in other kids cars as well.

I've seen teenagers driving to dd's college, some of them are appalling. (Though some of the coach drivers weren't much better, too fast, wrong side of road)

My days are likely numbered then...

Oh this thread is just the dregs of MN. Forget it.

The A66 is a dual carriageway with a 70 speed limit (50/60 in parts).

The children are degenerates. Yes, children can be degenerates.

Our society doesn't need such individuals. Their reckless behaviour could have snatched more lives.

I'd probably get banned if I said what I think about those "children".

Huge sympathy to the families of the actual two victims.

Sorry for your loss. My condolences.

I live in the Teesside area (although a few miles from where this happened) and see youths in balaclavas on motorbikes, and hear of cars being set on fire following joyriding most days. And, if any of them are killed, the social media outpourings of how they were such a lovely lad and a clampdown on anyone expressing that they were behaving criminally and “just think of the family reading these comments”. This time feels very different where the vast majority of local comments are sympathy for the police officers and their families.

My only hopes are that this event might make some of the hangers-on of a gangs think twice about getting into a car that they will know is stolen, and that the UK Government don’t feel as hamstringed as the Irish Government about taking action against social media companies hosting the videos.

Yes, one of these moronic 'kids' was performing stunts on the motorway without a helmet when I was driving into London.

He fell off and injured himself quite badly, and I continued driving.

its hard to fathom how anyone could garner sympathy for such reckless behaviour given the result of their actions

NO! The dregs of society are the scum that caused this to happen

I think it’s 50 in this part of the road. Very built up area

Facts released are:

"Two officers killed in a car crash near Middlesbrough this morning, which also killed five others, have been named by Cleveland Police

Chief Constable Victoria Fuller says PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough "were brave officers protecting our communities"

The occupants of the other vehicle were all males in their late teens, the BBC understands

The collision happened on the A66 in South Bank, near Middlesbrough on Teesside, shortly after 03:30 BST on Saturday when a car travelling the wrong way collided with a marked police vehicle"

There have been a number of similar crashes recently involving young males driving the incorrect way along motorways.

An article on BBC news also suggests that filming dangerous driving IS a current trend on TikTok
🤦

I hope the full details put some youths off copying dangerous behaviour.

Thoughts to the poor police officers families, friends and colleagues. Such a waste.

I agree!

I’m local too. Sadly, I have read quite a few comments that these lads were ‘killed by the police’ and ‘the police should have backed off and not chased’.

All untrue but horrendous that anyone could think this.

The police can’t win, back off and they are not doing their jobs, do their jobs and be blamed for killing others.