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APCC Joint Leads for Roads Policing, Joy Allen and Philip Seccombe, responded to the recent A66 crash that killed seven including two police officers and growing concerns around social media videos glorifying dangerous driving

“Deaths and serious injuries on our roads are preventable tragedies, so the reckless trend in online videos that glorify seriously dangerous driving is deeply worrying.  

We call on social media companies to recognise the harm such videos risk and to act with urgency to remove them from their platforms.

Although we cannot yet definitively know whether the A66 crash was part of the social media trend, recent incidents, including this one, have brought home the deadly impact of profoundly irresponsible driving, leaving too many families grieving the loss of loved ones. As Police and Crime Commissioners, our thoughts are very much with the families of Cleveland Police PCs Matthew Blades and Tom Clough who died on duty last weekend on Teesside.  

Under the Online Safety Act, social media companies must minimise children’s exposure to violent material and content promoting dangerous challenges. If the government is to meet its ambition to reduce the numbers killed or seriously injured on the roads by 65% by 2035, then social media companies must step up and take down this dangerous content.” 

Editors’ notes:

• Joy Allen is PCC for Durham
• Phillip Seccombe is PCC for Warwickshire