Gardaí and Cork city councillors warn of scrambler bike danger

A Cork city councillor has said a tragic incident in Northern Ireland has highlighted the dangers of scrambler bikes.

Worker’s Party Councillor Ted Tynan told this week’s meeting of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) that a tragedy in Ballymena last week, where a nine-year-old boy was killed and another boy was critically injured following a collision of two scrambler bikes, illustrated how dangerous scramblers are.

“I actually have a motion in the system here about the danger not alone to residents, where [scramblers] drive like hell through greens and along footpaths, but indeed there’s a huge risk to the operators of these scramblers as well,” Cllr Tynan said.

Cllr Tynan claimed that scramblers have not been seen in the greater Mayfield area since an incident involving two bikes in Mayfield in recent weeks.

Chief Superintendent Tom Myers, who is in charge of policing in the Cork City division, complimented Cllr Tynan for highlighting the dangers of scrambler bikes, saying he had been “banging that drum” for some time.

“I’m glad to see that one or two scramblers might have disappeared from the North Ring Road, and I know that Supt Declan O’Sullivan has been working with the community guards in relation to that, because the dangers of scramblers are as you have outlined,” Chief Superintendent Myers told Cllr Tynan, adding that nobody wanted to see replicated in Cork the type of tragedy seen recently in the North.

Responding to Cllr Tynan at a JPC meeting in March, Chief Supt Tom Myers had said road traffic legislation applies to scramblers regarding driving licences and insurance “because they are mechanically propelled vehicles under the Road Traffic Act, and the NCT rules and regulations apply as well.” 

On that occasion, Chief Supt Myers said scramblers “are very powerful machines and could cause very, very serious, if not fatal, accidents.”