Driving wrong way on motorway should be reclassified as ‘attempted murder’ says MEP

Cork MEP Billy Kelleher has said that driving the wrong way down a motorway needs to be reclassified as “attempted murder”.

It comes following the fatal M9 crash in Kildare, in which five teenagers were killed after the car they were travelling in was driven southbound on the northbound carriageway, hospitalising three sisters and a seven-year-old boy who were travelling in another car.

Minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan has said that driving the wrong way down a motorway may need to become a specific criminal offence, and that gardaí will be given “whatever resources they require” to deal with dangerous driving, including pursuit training for the first time.

Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South Mr Kelleher said: “It’s clear that the existing legal framework for dealing with wilfully negligent driving such as driving down the wrong side of the motorway is not fit for purpose and must be amended to reflect the seriousness of such crimes.

“Anyone driving deliberately down the wrong side of a motorway is putting other people’s lives at risk, and the punishment must reflect that. It’s akin to attempted murder, in my opinion.

“Applying penalty points to licences many of these criminals don’t have is futile,” 

he said, adding that crimes of this nature must result in a custodial sentence.

“There are, in my opinion, zero plausible possibilities as to why a car would be driving at 120km or 130km an hour on the wrong side of a motorway.

“If a driver was confused about using the wrong slip road, any decent person would immediately stop, park on the hard shoulder, turn on their hazard lights, and seek assistance.”

He said the gardaí need training to pursue criminals safely.

However, he added: “I caution anyone against believing that two cars driving down the wrong side of the motorway at high speeds is ever a safe option.”