I wasn’t surprised at the incident involving young people driving tractors last weekend.
I was holidaying in Fahan, near Buncrana in early September. I pulled into a petrol station just on the outskirts of Buncrana. There was an older model of tractor parked up. It had a Mayo reg (MO). There was at least five young boys squashed into the cab.
I assumed they were admiring and examining the tractor. They were wearing dark blue jumpers -school uniforms obviously. I was horrified when I saw the tractor reversing out. There was one lad standing on the two bars that sway from side to side. (I have been around tractors once or twice ..I’m a country girl but not from a farming background).
I didn’t see any of the boys walking away so presumably all of them were still squashed into the cab. I wanted to call the Gardai there and then but my two mid-twenties daughters told me not to be a ‘Karen’.
A fear at the back of my mind before going to Donegal was would we come back alive? Road accident fatalities there are horrendous. (I felt the same last time I visited four years ago).
I considered these young lads the motorists of the future. They showed no sign of responsibility and this is bound to be played out in their driving behaviour in the future.
We did a lot of driving around the Peninsula and one thing I did notice was the speed limits on narrow twisty roads. Perhaps this is something that should be reviewed in an effort to save lives.
Patricia Thorp
Rush, Co. Dublin.
