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?

Good idea in principle but highly likely that the wrong direction driver will be killed as well, as was so in the 2 recent incidents

That’s the problem isn’t it.

All these ideas people had don’t they think car manufacturers and insurance companies would use and insist on them if it stopped cars being stolen to start with.

These are criminals not law abiding citizens who will go oh no my black box I just not speed.

Another thing that seriously narks me about driving. You can pass your test then go straight onto the motorway. Some driving instructors can take pupils onto a motorway but there's no requirements.

It's a completely different scenario

Adding. There should be restrictions whatever your age or what you drive . Pass your test then do a motorway assessment

In theory the sentences can be similar, but in practise it's vanishingly rare that sentences for death by dangerous driving are anything near what a murder sentence would be.

This is absolute nonsense.

The numbers of young drivers killed or seriously injured in accidents has dropped 60% in the last two decades. The numbers of young people consuming alcohol / binge drinking has also reduced by a quarter. This cohort of under 25s are way smarter than we ever were.

I would say that’s not intentional.

Well it isn’t just reckless teenage driving is it? It’s part of a wider issue of criminality, school exclusion, poverty. How do you tackle that??

There's not a huge difference between motorway driving and driving on a multi-lane dual carriageway except that motorways have fewer (and much safer) junctions.

This is unworkable for anyone who doesn’t live near a motorway. If you live in Inverness, the closest motorway is about 2 and a half hours away.

You can’t eliminate all risk but there will still be a system in place (like having to have an MOT) that will cut the risk.

Very Sensible- I have said similar - the focus should be showing them a different type of life is possible - how we I think by the time this would be an option the damage/ mind set usually deep rooted and already done

Yes GB is one of the safest countries in the world for road travel. You will never get zero accidents, but it’s fair to say there is no real problem with driving standards or the legal framework

No the problem is idiots and lack of consequences.

Give the young men hormone blockers to stop the testosterone-fuelled showing off, violence and wider destruction.

not sure if I am joking or not myself tbh

I haven’t looked up any statistics for Mumsnet chat, but if what you said is true, how upsetting? Let say it’s better now, alright, but still this shit? Why is the bar so low? Personally, to think this under 25s cohort are smarter than we were is very scary. I work with them, they are quite concerning, not necessarily their fault, but very concerning.

do you think the bar is so low due to this one accident though? No one was talking about teenage reckless driving 6 months ago

Could make a speed awareness course part of the test.
Could do speed awareness courses in schools.
Could stop calling kids ridiculous names as it's usually those kids.

It does feel nice to compare to developing countries when it comes to road travel. I’ll give GB that. There are still many countries without any “standards”, it’s very unsafe.

I think the suggestion that it is only a young criminal underclass who are driving dangerously is a myth, largely peddled by those nice, middle class parents who think their dear Sebastian wouldn’t possibly do such a thing in his brand new Ford Fiesta. When actually the statistics show that most accidents happen in rural/suburban areas by young men who own their own cars and those two things are most likely to mean they are from a middle class family.

The myth also invites us to look down our noses and “other” groups of young men (just as the OP is leading people to do) rather than accept we might be part of the problem.

The knee-jerk “MORE ROOLZ!” approach will not help: all it does is make driving more difficult and expensive for responsible young drivers, and makes them dependent on their parents for even longer. No rules would have stopped these lads. The reckless drivers break the rules knowing that they are unlikely to be caught and prosecuted, and some of them just pay the teeny-tiny fines and carry on as before. Until some way can be found to physically prevent people driving illegally, this is very difficult to enforce.

It needs to be more enforcement of existing laws: not just for teenagers, but adults as well. Police out there, fines of tens of thousands, not merely hundreds. I would be in favour all disqualification offences carrying a suspended sentence, so that the penalty for driving when disqualified is prison, but that’s not going to happen while the prisons are full. (And even then, prison is of highly dubious value for teenagers. The only thing it does is keep them off the road for a while, to educate them in crime from the professionals.)

How does that affect unlicensed drivers in stolen cars?

I think this is the nub of the matter.

We live in a world where reckless and dangerous and criminal behaviour is often seen to be rewarded across all classes, whether it's leniency for otherwise "good and upstanding" members of society - who often aren't, they're just well connected or have enough money to buy their way out of it.

Online platforms are now seen as a legitimate income stream with the impulsive devising ever more reckless ways to generate views and monetary reward, because "the world of work" has changed so much - I think this is a big factor. There is also a real danger of people losing their grip on reality and humanity because AI is warping the notion of our existence into something soulless.

Influencers like bloody Tate and Peterson are devaluing women and their influence; mothers don't matter, and if a father is absent in material reality or at home but not involved in backing up his wife's parenting, it falls to schools to try and plug the gap with little practical consistency.

I'm 57. My DS is 32 and although bright and capable, it was an uphill battle getting him through his teenage years with one or two hairy near misses with authority mostly due to peer pressure. He's stable now, working etc, and most of his peer group are ok despite being from mostly average and in some cases below back grounds.

The biggest change from my own observation in how kids are now are in economic terms and via social media.

I think it's going to get worse because we are human beings expected to integrate with technology at a speed we're not psychologically geared up for. Nothing about life is simple. The opining about resilience and adaptability to survive seems to be eroding the capacity for genuine empathy and understanding or critical thinking in terms of consequences of actions.

These crashes and deaths, especially the two policemen just boggle my mind. Being the driver who caused this, and those complicit in accompanying them, at, I believe, 23 with zero thought or care for anyone else is just something I can't get my head round. Did they think they were in GTA and would just respawn? Were they on drugs?

Honestly, I have lived with hope for our future because apparently nihilism is frowned upon, but I'm really struggling today, and both can and can't understand it from the bigger picture perspective.

What is to be done about it is a whole other question.

It’s one of the safest in the world. Only Norway and Sweden have fewer deaths. We’re not comparing to low income countries we’re comparing to everywhere

@teaandtoastwithmarmite “People speed all the time.”

Exactly! Reckless driving exists and it’s not just teens who do it.