LIVE: Locals 'at the mercy' of boy racers in rural Tipperary
Residents afraid to come out of their own homes
People living in the Bansha and Golden areas say they are at the mercy of boy racers.
“The residents of Bansha, Coolgurt, Clashaquirke, Rosadrehid, Boleen, Ashgrove, and Tankerdstown have been at the mercy of boy racers in two cars, speeding and doing doughnuts outside our homes for the past 3 months.
They video each other and drive off with no regard to the families and children they are scaring,” said a local resident.
The resident said that such driving had caused damage to people's property in Tankerdstown by knocking Bergins wall, a 200-year-old wall at the T-junction at L3102.On another occasion, one of the vehicles.
They also lost control of their vehicle that rammed the earthen bank belonging to a household with children who play in the opposite side of the earthen bank at the T Junction at Boleen.
“Additionally, every weekend two large trail bikes and a quad bike are driven by youths and race a circuit through the same roads, transgressing multiple townlands. None of these motorbikes or quad bikes have any vehicle registration numbers thus are not insured.
“We have come together as a community to highlight this dangerous driving on our rural roads in Tipperary and to please ask the public to contact the Gardai every time these youths are seen. The increase in this behaviour is driven by social media and a severe lack of Garda resources in the area. If there is no fear of being caught due to no available Garda resources, then there is no fear at all; thus, this behaviour escalates each time,” said a resident.
“These roads are used by families for walking and sightseeing with their children. Additionally, the roads can get busy with agricultural vehicles as it is predominantly a farming community. This, in turn, again maximises the risk of more fatalities on our roads. We are so afraid we are no longer allowing our children to walk or enjoy a cycle on the roads.
“At the moment there are two groups. which consist of 5 vehicles in total and we are at their mercy most weekends,” said the resident, who explained that everybody living in the area was afraid to speak out publicly about the issue as they were afraid to do so.
Superintendent Eddie Golden appealed to people living in the area to report the activities of boy racers to the Gardaí whenever they see it.
He asked them to send images and videos if they have them of such activity to the Gardaí. He also asked people to provide registration numbers if possible.
"We would appreciate it if the members of the public continue to report such activity,” said Superintendent Golden
He said the Gardaí were looking at that whole area with the National Roads Authority.