Blockbuster blamed for mayo donut craze

HOLLYWOOD blockbuster, The Fast and the Furious, is having an unwelcome impact on roads in Mayo.

Since the release of its latest sequel a number of week ago, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of roads left with the markings from the previous night's activities of drivers speeding and doing ‘donuts’ on public roads.

Residents have also reported incidences of drivers racing, skidding, honking horns, flashing lights and blaring loud music.

Now a campaign has been launched in the county to make this type of activity uncool and socially unacceptable with a slogan: “Don’t be an ass behind the wheel, donuts are for eating not car manoeuvres.” 

Explained Noel Gibbons, Mayo road safety officer: “Hollywood does not present the challenges of driving in a realistic manner. It often shows people easily getting out of crashes and rarely shows bystanders being injured. This encourages people to emulate such behaviour on real roads.”

And it is not just bystanders who have been killed by the craze. The most high-profile victim is one of the stars of the franchise itself, Paul Walker.

Mr. Gibbons said these type of films have a very young and very impressionable audience who just don’t think about the devastation, the lives lost, the mothers, wives and children who no longer have a husband, an older brother or father.

He stated: 'Driving donuts, as well as the more complicated manoeuvre of ‘drifting’, are stunts done mostly at night to avoid traffic and the detection of the gardaí. The culprits are generally young men who are commonly referred to as ‘boy racers’ for their penchant for driving fast in sometimes high powered vehicles.

“Most complaints received by the gardaí have to do with the loud noises emitted from revved up engines and screeching tyres that disturb families during sleeping hours.'

All it takes is one mistake, a lapse in concentration or one fault with a vehicle for something to go tragically wrong, said the Superintendent of Castlebar Garda District, Joe McKenna.

“If officers detect someone contravening traffic laws in this manner, we take it very seriously and we will investigate the matter. A dangerous driving conviction can ultimately lead to a driving disqualification and/or a fine or term of imprisonment. Careless driving can lead to penalty points recorded against one’s licence,” he elaborated.