Irish police say deadly motorway stunts being staged for ‘social media likes’

Nine individuals sustained injuries in early August following an incident where eight young individuals struck a vehicle while travelling against traffic on Dublin's principal ring road, as reported by AFP. Ireland's Chief Policing Officer, Justin Kelly, issued a stern warning amid two recent head-on collisions near Dublin, implicating that certain youthful individuals are driving on the wrong side of the motorway to garner social media attention.

This alarming revelation emerged after a tragic collision early Sunday, which claimed the lives of five male teenagers and caused severe injuries to three women and a child in another vehicle that was en route to Dublin Airport. The young men were reportedly driving southbound on the northbound lane of a motorway southwest of Dublin when the accident occurred.

Kelly's statement about the incident emphasized that such reckless behavior is particularly egregious when it is motivated by the pursuit of social media likes. In response to the reckless actions, the standard practice of law enforcement is to refrain from pursuing vehicles driving on the incorrect side of a motorway due to the inherent danger posed to other motorists.

According to John Joe O'Connell, the vice president of the Garda Representative Association, which represents police officers, young men and boys are attempting to outdo one another by engaging in pursuits and driving against traffic on dual carriageways or motorways, subsequently filming the dangerous activity to amass likes on social media platforms.