ON THE FRONTLINE: Behind the scenes of ongoing battle between gardaí and joyriders as senior officer admits the the troubling key factors that give ‘wrong-way thugs’ the upper hand
Gardaí are investigating at least three further wrong-way driving incidents this week, as pressure mounts on the Irish government to tackle the growing problem of "wrong-way thugs" on the country's motorways. The surge in cases follows the M9 tragedy on 16 August, in which five teenagers were killed, and comes as ministers and state agencies met on Friday to discuss potential countermeasures. Senior garda sources say there is no training that can make it safe for officers to pursue wrong-way drivers, highlighting the difficulty the force faces in curbing the trend.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland recorded 62 wrong-way driving incidents on motorways so far this year, a 32% rise on the 47 logged over the same period last year. Recent cases include a car stopped by gardaí at an M1 toll plaza in Co. Meath, and two separate incidents in which lorry drivers blocked wrong-way vehicles in Galway and Laois, forcing them to turn around. The issue gained further urgency after seven people, including two police officers, died in a wrong-way collision in Middlesbrough, England, last Saturday, while older footage circulating online shows a "notorious" driver evading gardaí in 2023 before later being injured in a similar crash.
- Wrong-way motorway incidents in Ireland rose 32% year-on-year to 62 cases
- Follows M9 crash that killed five teenagers on 16 August
- Gardaí say no training makes pursuing wrong-way drivers safe
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates of a tougher, enforcement-led response argue that gardaí and the state must be prepared to take decisive action, including pursuit where safe, robust road engineering such as wrong-way sensors and physical barriers, and stiffer penalties for those who deliberately drive against traffic. They point to the rising number of incidents, the M9 deaths and the Middlesbrough tragedy as evidence that current deterrents are failing, and argue that the safety of the travelling public must take precedence, with visible consequences needed to change behaviour among repeat offenders.
The case against
Others argue that officer and public safety must come first, and that senior garda sources are right to resist pursuit tactics that could turn a dangerous situation into a fatal one for bystanders, passengers or officers themselves. They emphasise that many wrong-way drivers are intoxicated, in crisis, or otherwise unpredictable, so the priority should be prevention through road design, public awareness and addressing the underlying causes of such behaviour, rather than confrontation that risks escalating an already perilous scenario.