'Disgusting' - People criticising teens who died in Waterford e-scooter crash slammed

People criticising two boys who died in an e-scooter crash in Waterford are being slammed online. 

Two teenagers on an e-scooter collided with a bus on the Cork Road in Waterford City at approximately 2.10am yesterday morning (June 27), with one boy passing away at the scene and the other succumbing to injuries just hours later at Waterford University Hospital. 

Hundreds of social media users have voiced their opinions on the boys, their families, and e-scooter regulation in the wake of the tragedy, with one X user stating, "Tragic. But let’s face it. A 15 year old boy out on a scooter at 2am. We all know what he was up to. No parenting going on here." 

Another commented, "Two teenagers on a scooter on the road at 2am? Oh ok." 

Another particularly careless comment reads, "Ah well, this could have been foreseen by a blind labrador." 

Others complained about e-scooter regulation, with many calling for them to be banned from the roads. 

An X user wrote, "RIP lads, but you know when I was a teenager this would not have happened. Know why? Because we used our legs. Who ever okayed them being legal on roads should be jailed." 

Another commented, "It was always going to happen... no regulation, no control, whizzing by on roads and footpaths... Let's not forget [the] unfortunate bus driver. Let's see what action, if any, the government decide on now." 

The commenters were heavily criticised for their lack of tact by other social media users, with one person calling the comments "disgusting". 

An X user stated, "A lot of people are using comment threads today to voice their opinions on e-scooter regulations and to cast aspersions as to why the boys were out late... Two families in Waterford are broken forever. There’s a time and place, it isn’t now - let these families grieve in peace." 

Another commented, "Please don’t comment on the death of the two young men in Waterford; you weren’t there; anything you say APART FROM OFFERING SYMPATHY TO THE GRIEVING FAMALIES only adds to the pain. People can be too quick to comment. If you’ve nothing good to say, then say nothing." 

Another X user commented, "Absolutely devastating for their poor families, two young boys with their whole lives ahead of them taken. It is just so tragic. May they both rest in peace." 

Another reads, "My heart goes out to the parents who were awakened to the dreaded knock at the door and their horror at seeing their teens' bodies. I also feel for the bus driver, his pain is invisible but agony." 

Hundreds of other commenters offered sympathies to the families of the boys, who have been named locally as Gilbert Collins, 15, and Abuzwa Idris, 17. 

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling on the Cork Road in Waterford City between 1.45am and 2.15am are asked to make the footage available to Gardaí.

Witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to contact Waterford Garda Station on 051 305300, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.