Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
LONDON: Twelve people have died in less than a week in accidents in England and Ireland involving cars being driven the wrong way on major roads, amid a social media trend for “wrong-side” driving.
Seven people including two serving police officers died on Saturday in a crash on the main A66 road near Middlesbrough in northeastern England, police said.
Authorities are investigating the exact circumstances but said the collision followed a pursuit of a suspicious vehicle which ended up being driven the wrong way and colliding with a police car that was on the correct side of the road. It comes after a fatal crash in Ireland on Sunday in which five teenagers died.
Their car had been travelling the wrong way on the M9 motorway west of Dublin when it collided head-on with a another vehicle, leaving four people in the second car, including a child, seriously injured. The accidents come as authorities have highlighted a social media-driven trend for “wrong-side” driving.
