Opinion

Dangerous drivers must be stopped

A YOUNG pedestrian had a lucky escape from serious injury after he was struck by a car in north Belfast in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The 17-year-old boy sustained injuries to his ankle, leg and hip when he was struck by the vehicle in the Oldpark Square area at about 1.20am. The car did not stay at the scene.

It was later found burned out on the Cliftonville Road area after police received reports that the grey Vauxhall Zafira was reported as being driven dangerously in the Oldpark Road and Ardoyne Avenue areas.

Thankfully such incidents are not as common as they used to be in the not too distant past when certain areas of Belfast were hotspots for so-called joyriding, an era when cars were stolen for the express purpose of driving them at high speed, usually through built-up and densely populated areas of the city.

Tragically many of these crimes ended in the deaths of many people: other innocent drivers, pedestrians and, often, people in the stolen vehicles.

Given the advances in technology and the greater difficulty in stealing modern vehicles, it is unlikely that we will see a return to those often epidemic proportions. However, there are occasional upsurges in such car crimes. In fact about a mile from yesterday’s incident a young woman died after being struck by a stolen vehicle.

It is important that the police and the general public are not lulled into a false sense of security. The police have appealed for information to help catch those responsible for Sunday’s incident.

Anyone with dash cam footage or who witnessed this car being driven dangerously should give any help they can to the authorities. 

The next time these criminals get behind the wheel of a car and engage in such dangerous behaviour the outcome could be tragic for themselves or some innocent driver or pedestrian.