Seven Lives Gone
I have cried more than once watching this story unfold.
Voice:
From a mum — name withheld
7 September 2026
I have cried more than once watching this story unfold.
Seven lives gone. Seven families facing the kind of phone call that no parent, partner, friend or colleague should ever have to receive. I am still upset by it, like so many other people.
As a mum, I keep thinking: what are we doing?
What has happened to being young? Getting a job you moan about. Going out with your mates. Saving for a holiday you probably cannot afford. Making daft memories that do not end with somebody’s family planning a funeral.
Instead, it feels as though too many young people are being sold the idea that adrenaline, attention, likes and follows matter more than life itself.
A fast car does not make you important. Driving dangerously does not make you brave. Filming it does not make you famous. It makes a moment of stupidity permanent — and sometimes it makes it fatal.
Social media is not the only cause of this, but it has a lot to answer for when danger becomes content and recklessness becomes entertainment. A few likes from strangers are not worth your life. They are not worth your mate’s life. They are not worth the life of a person driving home from work, taking their child somewhere, or simply being on the wrong road at the wrong time.
If this reaches one young person, please listen.
Do not speed. Do not drive after drink or drugs. Do not get in a car with someone who is driving dangerously. Do not mistake stupidity for being hard.
Take responsibility for yourself and for every person who gets into your car.
You have a life ahead of you. Do not throw it away for a few seconds of adrenaline and people online who will scroll on to the next video.