THE head-on motorway collision which claimed five young lives at the weekend prompted renewed calls for tighter regulations on social media.

This predictable outcry will likely fall on deaf ears unless the EU’s Digital Services Act is properly enforced and penalties levied for breaches.

The legislation provides an important framework for dealing with illegal content online, and this very much includes the online promotion of dangerous and illegal activities.

What happened on the M9 motorway in Kildare at the weekend is every driver’s worst nightmare. A family on their way to Dublin Airport, suitcases packed and eager to start their summer holiday abroad, encountered a stolen BMW being driven at speed the wrong way down the motorway.

The four occupants of the car, including a young child, were travelling northbound near the Athy junction of the motorway while the five teen occupants of the BMW, the oldest just 18, were driving southbound.

All five teenagers were killed and the driver and front seat passenger of the other car are in a critical condition in hospital. The back seat passengers, including a child, are also in hospital.

This is not the first collision of its kind in recent weeks. A car being driven in the wrong direction on the M50 in Dublin with a number of teenage passengers also caused a serious crash.

There were also reports of a wrong way motorway stunt in Cork at the weekend. And in the aftermath of the M9 crash videos of previous dangerous driving stunts by some of those who were killed have been found on social media.

Social media dares and risk taking are nothing new. Teenagers go ‘missing’ regularly at the weekend, putting their parents in fear and wasting garda resources.

But this latest trend is dangerous beyond comprehension. What possible outcome can there be from driving at speed the wrong way down a motorway other than loss of life?

Spare a thought for the emergency services and gardaí who attended the scene of the weekend’s carnage. The M9 motorway was closed in both directions for almost 24 hours such was the scene of devastation.

Vehicles are being driven on the wrong side of motorways for social media likes. This is not a stunt. This is gross misuse of a potentially lethal weapon.

Dangerous behaviour that is recorded and uploaded on social media platforms should be removed immediately.

If something is illegal in the real world, then we cannot allow the internet to become a place where it is glorified or encouraged. Minors are most susceptible to these trends, and they are paying with their lives. Worse still, they are putting the lives of others at risk. 

This madness needs to stop, and social media giants need to take swift and decisive action to shut this trend down, sooner rather than later.

More pools needed

AS we celebrated the incredible medal haul by swimmers Ellen Walshe and Mona McSharry at last weekend’s European Aquatics Championships in Paris, it’s worth reminding that for a country with just four 50m pools (and none in Cork the largest county) we are indeed punching well above our weight when it comes to international swimming competitions.

This incredible medal haul incidentally comes at a time when a steering group in Bandon, who are pushing for a public swimming pool in the town, recently presented the Bandon Community Swimming Pool project to the Minister for Sport Charlie McConalogue. 

They are recognising the need for a 25m pool in a town that is booming with new housing developments.

They aren’t waiting around for it to happen, no, they are doing something about it and kudos to all involved.

There is no doubt we need more public swimming pools in towns across West Cork and having just one pool in Dunmanway falls well short of what is needed.

To encourage the future Monas and Ellens, West Cork needs the facilities to make this happen and let’s hope Bandon will be the next town to boast a pool which could be the starting block for aspiring Olympian swimmers even. 

It really is a case or build it and they will come (swim). And let’s not forget the heroics of the athletics medal winners too in Birmingham. It was some sporting weekend indeed.