How can reckless teenage driving be prevented?

[UncleColm]

We had that terrible crash recently in the UK which resulted in 7 deaths - RIP to the two Police Officers who were on duty.

In Ireland we had a very similar crash the previous week where five boys died - aged 15 to 17. All were wearing balaclavas at the time of the crash and were 'well known' to Guards. The family they crashed into were three sisters and a seven year old son of one of the sisters (on the way to the airport go to a family wedding) - they are all still in hospital and are very seriously injured.

The previous week, in Ireland, a car carrying eight teenage boys aged from as young as 13 crashed into a car being driven in the correct direction by one young man who is now seriously injured.

The boys seem to be from a mix of poor areas and Travellers. In death they are being celebrated by their families but where were these families when they were alive? Who lets their teenage boy out all night? And let's them produce tiktoks of their 'exploits'? Parental supervision is clearly not in place.

How can this reckless driving behaviour be stopped?

In Ireland there is a huge shortage of jail spaces and places to detain a child under 18. These kids couldn't care less if the Guards catch them - sure what's another Juvenile Caution to them? One of the boys who died was supposed to stay in his own County but had ignored it. They have no fear of the Guards or the law.

I work in a school and there is a huge amount of help available to Traveller children in particular but they still tend to not engage with any after school activities, don't do homework, don't go on school trips, leave school early, high absence rate, etc.

I read recently that, in Ireland, 50% of Travellers don't live beyond 39. In 2026 this a shocking statistic. I don't know what the statistics are for the poor, disadvantaged areas but I do know that the taxpayers provide Social Housing, child benefit, medical cards, free education, free school books and hot lunches, back to school allowances and a whole other host of allowances. There are many initiatives available to help people to stay in education and gain independence.

What more can be done? Is there any way of reaching these young males?

I’m unsure how you’d prevent a 17 year old going out. At 16 I’d actually moved out and had a kid.

I don’t think reckless teen driving is new and the families may well have contributed to the whole balaclava wearing wannabe gangster thing but they’re likely not smart enough to realise that.

Dash cams non negotiable
under 21 men cannot carry passengers after dark (or at all)
newly qualified drivers are not allowed cars over 1 litre for the first xx years.
as above, no modifications allowed on cars to engine etc until all drivers are over 25.

Can’t speak to Ireland but in the uk you have to o pass a theory test and a practical test before you can drive without an experienced driver supervising.

in the uk many of these types of crashes are teen boys who do not actually have a licence or insurance.

17 year olds are generally allowed out in the evening without parental supervision. in Scotland they may be at uni without parents anyway, in the uk at 18 significant minority go away for uni.

many providers of car insurance for teens require a black box in the car to monitor their driving.

having said that I get the impression from the reporting that the car in the U.K. was being chased by police so presumably the driver was motivated to avoid arrest hence the driving dangerously.

Definitely think max one passenger until at least a year of incident free driving. Cars full of boys just egg each other on.

Both of these crashes were in stolen vehicles.

Any changes to the rules regarding driving aren’t going to have an impact. This was a stolen car.

The only thing I can think of is some sort of limiter for speed. I have no idea how that would work in practice or indeed, if it’s possible given the variety of different speed limits.

It’s also got a lot to do with shit parenting. It’s ok saying you can’t make a 17 year old stay in; however, you can stop a child becoming the kind of teenager who is out stealing cars or riding in stolen cars.

I blame the parents. Maybe if the parents of these scrotes got fined or something they'd actually be motivated to do some parenting.

How would raising the driving age to 25 stop someone younger stealing a car and driving it illegally?

You get men speeding in their twenties.

Footballer Diogo Jota (father of three) and younger brother André Silva died in 2025, when their Lamborghini suffered a tire blowout while overtaking a vehicle in Spain. Diogo Jota was speeding.

Illegally? Not much.

Dash cams, black boxes, speed restrictors on cars insured for under 21s, engine size restrictions for younger drivers, passenger limits etc etc
...can't stop those who steal cars because they are already breaking the law.

Uhh, the usual kneejerk useless response. Did you quote the daily mail directly?

Do you really think young criminals in a stolen car, likely unlicensed, definitely uninsured, possibly drunk or high, would suddenly stop and think, 'hmm stop boys, we don't have a dashcam and there's more than 1 of us, let's all go home instead and read a book or something'

All your 'proposals' would do is make life harder and less convenient for the masses of young law abiding drivers out there. It would not affect the criminals a single jot.

No easy answer. I grew up on an estate in poverty and my own family were an 'ASBO', antisocial behaviour type of family, I don't know why/how I escaped. A mixture of enjoying school, seeing teachers as people their to help me rather than a figure to be hated, foster families who I saw as saviours.

I live and teach in a deprived area, albeit I live on the outskirts but people post on the community group about young men - always men - who are riding their ebikes/scooters and smashing up the area. The comments are (its just kids being kids'. The majority of law abiding, community minded people just get on with their everyday lives and don't speak out due to abuse online or in real life.

Despite austerity there is a help out there. My son is ASD so I know how supportive the local comp is. DH coaches two football teams, one an inclusive team. Sadly, some families will not engage with help as I know from my own upbringing, authority figures are viewed with contempt.

But none of this, (and I’d be happy for your rules to apply to my own kids) will be obeyed by the feral yobs that have been responsible for awful crashes in the news. They’re wrong’uns stealing cars, they’re not going to say, “hold up, this is a high powered Audi - we’re only 14, we need to steal a 1L Nissan Micra”
More rules just make life trickier for the law abiding while the thugs carry on as they like…

Teenagers are in general completely out of control in the UK, driving recklessly is only the tip of the iceberg. Many problems are deep rooted; mix a bit of alcohol and drug use, basically no way out.

I’m 25 and have a mortgage, husband and a nine year old kid lol.
No need to infantilise millions of young adults because of a few idiots.

These young men were probably little shits long before this happened and nothing was done about it we should bring back borstals I think

I honestly don’t think that you can, you can bring in all the rules in the world, but unfortunately some people couldn’t care less about the rules and will carry on regardless.

And thick, feral parents who don't give a fuck.

That's the main issue, let's be honest.

The whole system needs changing.

I've taught in a secondary school for 13 years and you just know which kids will end up in trouble. Often due to no/poor boundaries at home.

I think they need to bring back either a military service, or borstal/military style boarding schools from age 14 where kids are given training, discipline, taught self respect, learn life skills etc... these should be compulsory for any child caught committing an illegal act, or an option to a child who is struggling in a main stream school who would benefit from a more active education.

Tik Tok to vet all videos and don’t just let whoever upload whatever the hell they like.

Nothing will be done. We have a system that prefers to give out unlimited child benefit and other handouts to encourage these feral people to produce more vile scrotes who threaten the safety of the taxpayers who support them. Apparently, it's not kind to expect them to take responsibility for their own lives and behaviour.

Completely agree - absolutely shit parenting, left, right, and centre. And a total unwillingness to address that head on because we don’t want to hurt their feelings, do we?

Every “bad” kid I know or know of has shit parents. Not always ill-meaning or neglectful necessarily, just monumentally crap at having any sort of boundaries or discipline.

Honest answer, you won’t like it, but at the first offence I’d enrol the little scrotes in the army to teach them proper discipline, and take any younger children away from the waste of space parents.

I think they should stop the police chases. A lot of these crashes involve the police chasing them. There needs to be a safer way of tracking their identity than chasing them at high speed. The punishment is usually very minor for driving crimes so it never justifies a high speed chase that risks lives. Maybe drones that follow them or better camera technology on the roads.

This!
Plus I’d add in black boxes mandatory for all young drivers and all young drivers not just men (I know of girls equally as reckless behind the wheel) cannot carry passengers under a certain age so they could take their parents but not peers. I’d also be inclined to look at mandatory speed limiters on cars for the young as well as mandatory green P plates for a certain timescale.