The government has urged social media companies to remove posts celebrating dangerous driving, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham branding such content 'truly reprehensible'. Two police officers died when a car going the wrong way crashed into their vehicle near Middlesbrough. The TikTok account believed to belong to one of the deceased passengers had previously shared videos appearing to show dangerous driving activities.

Earlier Defence Minister Luke Pollard told BBC Breakfast that social media companies could take down such content easily by adjusting their algorithms. Despite this, the culture secretary has been clear that footage should be removed 'in line with legal obligations'. Ofcom is backed by the government to take action against those who fail in these duties.

While TikTok policies prohibit content that could cause significant physical harm, including dangerous driving, they are actively removing such videos and accounts. Between January and March 2026, 99.8% of content removed for violating their policies was taken down proactively by the company. Facebook and Instagram owner Meta also prohibits posts encouraging high-risk challenges involving reckless driving.

PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades died in a collision with a Volkswagen Passat that had been pursuing them until seconds before. All five occupants of the Passat, including 18-year-old Makai Saddington, also died. The TikTok account believed to belong to Saddington had posted videos involving police pursuits and joyrides.

As for Ireland's recent tragedy, a head-on collision between two vehicles killed five teenagers driving the wrong way down a motorway in County Kildare. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly described it as 'irresponsible and dangerous driving' with potentially devastating impacts on innocent people.