Nenagh 'boy racer' videos removed from web

Videos of young people performing spectacular manoeuvres in cars at various locations in Co Tipperary were withdrawn from the internet site YouTube yesterday.

The removal of the videos Cars Gone Wild and Cars Gone Wild 2 followed comments from gardaí that they may be useful in evidence against the drivers.

A search by The Irish Times last night revealed some 77 videos entitled Cars Gone Wild, made at various other locations around the world.

The Co Tipperary videos - made in a car park in Nenagh, an unidentified wooded area and an unidentified quarry - showed cars making "doughnut" manoeuvres, performing hand brake turns and speeding. In one scene, the driver of a car is seen hanging out of the window as the car performs a range of stunts.

The antics have been criticised by a range of commentators including gardaí.

The Road Safety Authority has said such behaviour can be subject to prosecution in the courts.

The head of the Garda National Traffic Bureau, Chief Supt John Farrelly, speaking at the publication of research into the problem of "boy racers" in the Border region yesterday, criticised the posting on the internet of videos of boy racers.

"Any action that glamorises fast driving or activity that could cause injury or death to people on the roads, we have difficulty with.

"Young people and their lack of driving experience and their belief in their own invincibility - it is a lethal combination," he said.

A Garda spokesman added that those who engage in such behaviour could be described as a risk to either themselves or other road-users.

As such, they were liable to prosecution under three headings in the Road Traffic Act. These were dangerous driving; careless driving; and driving without reasonable consideration for other road-users.

Brian Farrell of the Road Safety Authority said he had been shown the videos by RTÉ's Morning Ireland production team yesterday morning, and had been shocked by the behaviour of the drivers.

"The people who filmed the 'cruises' - as they are called - gathered in a Nenagh supermarket car park. It appears to be a subculture where like-minded people just gather to be simply reckless.

"This isn't a game. There are no defences as there would be at a race track and they are playing with their lives and the lives of spectators," said Mr Farrell.