Calls are growing for a crackdown on reckless drivers filming themselves performing dangerous stunts to get likes on social media after two tragedies in the space of a few days left 12 dead.
Videos of arrogant drivers joyriding in stolen cars or inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel are now becoming ever more prevelent across TikTok and Snapchat.
The greater the danger, the more views, likes and comments the videos seem to attract.
Each clip follows a similar theme, with the camera zooming in on a speedometer climbing rapidly before the lens pans to the driver and their thrill-seeking passengers.
Today, defence minister Luke Pollard said the Government had ordered social media companies to remove the videos from their platforms.
Calls for action are growing after two police officers died alongside five ‘TikTok joyriders’ in a catastrophic head-on collision on the A66 in Teesside early on Saturday morning.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were in an unmarked response vehicle that was struck by a VW Passat containing Michael Robert Cahill, 23; Jacob Matusiak, 23; Theo Rae, 17; Cole Robert Worthy, 17, and Makai Saddington, 18.
Another police car had been pursuing the teenagers before calling off the chase. Their car struck PCs Blades and Clough, who had not been involved in the pursuit, just 10 seconds later.
One of the teens, Saddington, had posted a string of TikTok clips that appeared to show him taking part in police chases in the months before his death.
Two masked thugs film themselves in a dangerous driving video shared on social media
Liberty Mitchell was jailed for killing a taxi driver and the passenger, with footage showing her laughing with a ‘cute’ filter on her face before watching the speedometer increase
Uways Hussain, 20, and Usmon Mahmood, 23, had spent the night driving dangerously through Manchester before ploughing into a car driven by Sylvester Abayomi
He had also been awaiting trial for racially abusing and assaulting officers.
In a separate incident last week, three sisters were left with catastrophic injuries after a gang of five teenage joyriders smashed into them as they careered in the wrong direction down the M9 in County Kildare, Ireland.
The five teens all died after their BMW smashed into the family’s car as they were travelling to Dublin Airport for a holiday.
The crash brought into focus the ‘Lucky Dip’ gang of car thieves wreaking havoc in Ireland. Police believe the group, made up of around 60 members, steal cars for the thrill of joyriding and uploading footage to social media.
But the vile trend is not confined to Ireland, with British road users also at risk from young drivers chasing online fame.
Becky Guy, senior policy manager for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said she was deeply concerned by the phenomenon of ‘drivers appearing to take risks on the road for social media content’.
‘No amount of likes, views or online attention is worth the risk of death or severe injury,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘Decisions made in a matter of seconds can have serious consequences, not only for the driver and any passengers, but for other people using the road.’
Nicholas Lyes, director of policy at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, said young drivers appeared to feel ‘invincible’ behind the wheel and were brazenly flouting road safety rules by speeding and using their phones.
‘There has also been a growing trend in recent years of filming, sharing and uploading dangerous driving content, all of which is incredibly dangerous,’ he added.
PC Matthew Blades was remembered by his widow as an ‘incredible father’ and ‘beloved husband’
PC Tom Clough has been remembered by his family as a ‘hero with a fantastic sense of humour’
There has been a spate of crashes involving reckless drivers that have resulted in deaths or serious injuries.
Earlier this year, 21-year-old Liberty Mitchell was jailed for killing a taxi driver and his passenger after filming herself speeding on Snapchat.
Footage showed her laughing with a ‘cute’ filter on her face before turning the camera around to show the speedometer climbing.
Other videos show Mitchell driving at 100mph on a 60mph country road and veering onto the opposite side of the carriageway towards an oncoming car as friends shouted for her to stop.
Mitchell, who was 18 at the time of the crash, was travelling at 96mph when her Mini Cooper ploughed into three other cars. She was attempting to overtake three vehicles at once before aborting the dangerous manoeuvre and hitting a taxi.
Taxi driver Octavian Codreanu was killed in the crash alongside schoolteacher Moyra Whelan, who was on her way to a wedding. Six others were also injured, three of them seriously.
Nicola Cooper, a passenger in Mr Codreanu’s taxi, said: ‘The crash itself was traumatic. The impact felt endless. I live with survivor’s guilt and the trauma of losing one of my closest friends, Moyra, who was sitting just inches from me.
‘I lie awake at night thinking about the “what-ifs”.’
In May, two men were jailed for a total of 23 years for filming themselves speeding at 139mph in a 30mph zone while inhaling laughing gas before killing another motorist.
Uways Hussain, 20, and Usmon Mahmood, 23, had spent the night driving dangerously through Manchester before ploughing into a car driven by Sylvester Abayomi.
Charlton was arrested in November 2023, and it was only then that the true extent of his offending was uncovered. After police seized his car, they discovered it had recorded speeds of more than 107mph on eight occasions in a single year.
Remarkably, no one was hurt during these incidents.
In a separate incident from May, a drug dealer was jailed for three years and nine months for filming himself speeding at 119mph while serving a five-year driving ban.
Extraordinary footage showed John Scott, 36, filming his speedometer climbing to 119mph as he accelerated along a single-carriageway country road while music played loudly in the background.
Another video showed Scott singing, smoking and driving while wearing sunglasses and no top.
Both clips were filmed while the criminal was partway through the five-year driving ban he had received in December 2024.
‘It is remarkable that no one was hurt,’ PC Charlie Large, of Norfolk Constabulary, said.
In a particularly horrific incident from 2024, 17-year-old George Taylor filmed himself using his knees to steer his car shortly before he ploughed into a stationary vehicle.
Catherine Davies, who was in a car waiting to turn at a junction, was left paralysed from the neck down. The single mother now relies on round-the-clock care in a specially adapted property fitted with life-support equipment.
George Taylor, aged 19 pictured outside court. The teenager filmed himself driving without his hands on the wheel and has now been jailed for 26 months
Catherine Davies now relies on a tracheostomy – an opening in her windpipe – to allow her to breathe and has an ‘eye-gazing’ machine to help her communicate as her vocal chords were severely damaged, which limits her speech
Ella Hendricken, Niamh Kinsella and Alma Kinsella all sustained catastrophic injuries after a crash on an Irish motorway that killed five teenage boys who had ‘boasted about joyriding’
Five teenage boys, all wearing balaclavas, were killed in the head-on collision as they drove south up the northbound carriageway on the M9 in County Kildare, Ireland
Taylor was later jailed for 26 months.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard today said social media platforms should act to remove videos promoting dangerous driving.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘We’ve communicated to those social media platforms that have been hosting content that celebrates this type of dangerous behaviour on our roads and urged them to take it down.
‘I think we all need to give the police time, but there are also things we can be doing in the meantime to make sure that the internet is a safer place for everyone, one that does not reward dangerous behaviour with views and financial incentives.’
‘I want to see social media companies step up.
‘It’s one of the reasons they’ve argued against some of the regulations, saying they can police themselves. Well, this is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate it. Remove the content that celebrates dangerous behaviour on our roads.
‘While that content is online, the Government will be using the powers in the Online Safety Act to compel platforms to take it down.
‘But if social media platforms were to regulate themselves and remove it in the first place, rather than allowing their algorithms to amplify it, then I think we’d be in a better place.’
On Instagram, one motorcyclist posts montages of stunts and apparent 200mph sprints on public roads.
A video from March shows the rider swerving across all three motorway lanes and is captioned: ‘If I die, just know I sounded like this.’ It attracted more than 155,000 likes.
Last year, TikTok generated around €25.5 billion (£21.8 billion) in revenue, meaning it could face a fine of up to €1.53 billion (£1.31 billion) under the Irish regulator’s powers.
TikTok said it is closely monitoring content posted in relation to the M9 crash and is removing videos that breach its rules.
The company said it removes content that glorifies violence or promotes criminal activity.
Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey said it is ‘absolutely idiotic’ for drivers to take part in a social media trend that shows people driving the wrong way down roads.
Connor Charlton, a semi-professional footballer who plays for Nostell Miners Welfare in the Northern Counties East League, was caught speeding over 100mph on multiple occasions
Drug dealer John Scott has been jailed after he filmed himself speeding at 119mph while disqualified from driving
Quizzed about Saturday’s tragedy in Teesside, he said: ‘Without being able to say whether that was in any way involved in this case, it’s absolutely idiotic for anybody to be doing anything other than being completely focused on the road when they’re behind the wheel of a vehicle.
‘For somebody to be filming themselves, or doing anything like that, is absolutely ridiculous and, of course, nobody should be doing it.
‘It is a worrying situation if that’s becoming more prevalent because it is incredibly dangerous.
‘As I say, it may not have been the case in this situation, we don’t know, but anybody who is doing that, wherever it might be, is absolutely wrong to do so.’
Snapchat has been approached for comment.
