AS I SEE IT
BY MARIANNE HERON
When it comes to the knee-jerk reaction to the tragic carnage in the M9 and M50, M10, M60 wrong-way driving incidents, I recall the words of an old farmer. My dad had stopped to ask directions amid the drumlins of County Down, “If I were you,” advised the farmer, “I wouldn’t start from here.”
In the wake of the two horrifying crashes resulting in death and injury, I wouldn’t start by sending Gardai for UK training in high-speed, high-risk pursuit. It is a response which is far, far too late in a fateful chain of events which could be prevented at a much earlier stage. It’s a strategy likely to result in further tragedies, like the serious injury of four innocent members of a family from Carlow and the death of five youths as well as risks for Garda drivers. It also does just what youth gang members want, for Gardai to join their deadly game of cops ’n’ rob.
There are other less risky methods of stopping dangerous driving, from spike strips to puncture tyres, to drone tracking cars. Matters shouldn’t get to that stage though, but they do in a system which is failing to intervene effectively at every step along a way leading from the start of youth delinquency to horrific life-changing injury and death.
The high-profile crashes are part of a trend that has been there for years, where teens rob or buy cars then roar around roadways, terrorising and robbing locals, taunting the Gardai to give chase and posting videos of their exploits online to get ‘likes’.
Don’t tell me that parents, teachers and Gardai are not aware of youths who are getting into trouble at a much earlier stage. One of the youths killed in the M50 crash was in the care of Tusla, two others were ‘known’ to the agency and were on their radar. The juvenile justice system is neither effective nor a deterrent in these cases.
The most effective immediate action would be for social media platforms to take down posts showing the weaponising of cars driven by reckless youths in balaclavas. Closing their online accounts and removing posts of their criminal activity would rob gang members of their satisfaction in gaining likes for their exploits and kudos from their peers.
Juvenile delinquency is a worldwide challenge, fuelled by Young Male Syndrome (YMS). One way to explain this is that lads have engines before they have brakes, at a stage where they engage in risk-taking, physical aggression and competition for status, driven by hormonal and social pressures. Without full brain development of the pre-frontal cortex until around 25, they don’t evaluate the consequences of the risks they are taking. The disinhibiting effect as gang members represent themselves in the parallel online universe doesn’t help either.
Countries tend to have two different approaches to dealing with delinquency: either punitive at a late (too late!) stage or a restorative model which is about early intervention at community level with social support rather than detention, where prison can become a revolving door for offenders. Among the countries which have successful preventative measures are Iceland, with mandatory parental involvement and subsidised youth activities, and the Netherlands, which uses counselling, mentorship and community service.
Chivalry is a neglected word, once used to describe the bravery and kindness of knights in Medieval times. Boys were sent from home to stay in households for prolonged training, beginning at 7 as pages and becoming squires as teenagers, alongside the serving adults, being schooled, learning to defend the weak as well as training in martial arts like jousting and swordplay before graduating as knights.
Maybe a modern version of knighthood training which would inspire lads, giving them support, a chance to develop skills, gain self-confidence and earn respect is needed: the things joyriders are seeking in the wrong way.
Belonging, through having friends and being a member of a group, having a purpose and succeeding are core human drives and build self-esteem. The teenagers who are members of gangs, competing with each other in robbing, reckless driving, escaping the Gardai and posting their exploits online are, in a bizarre and criminal way, satisfying those drives.
Finding ways to meet those needs in alternative ways must be part of effective prevention. Prevent…
