A clampdown on TikTok use among tractor drivers is being rolled out by gardaí in tandem with a warning from Farm Contractors Ireland (FCI) that contractors should immediately sack any driver if they’re found using social media on their phones.

Gardaí say the aim of the initiative is to remind farmers of their responsibility as road users but warned that prosecution for dangerous driving under the Road Traffic Act was still a possibility for those caught using TikTok and other social media while driving.

However, FCI has taken a hard line and recommended that any driver found using social media while driving should be sacked immediately.

Farming is still the most dangerous occupational sector in the country

FCI chief executive Michael Moroney said it was against the law and they were “urging contractors to immediately sack any drivers found to be using their smartphones for recording and publishing work-related videos taken from the tractor seat, to social media outlets”.

Farming is still the most dangerous occupational sector in the country with a high proportion of machinery-related deaths and injuries.

Daring

The garda initiative is the brainchild of Garda David Hennessy after a surge in calls from members of the public reporting seeing young tractor drivers in particular recording themselves on their phones and it will be rolled out from Bruff Garda Station across Co Limerick initially.

We are the ones who have to go out and deal with consequences then if there is an accident or if someone is killed

“People are putting stuff up on TikTok on different social outlets and trying to do better than each other, and daring each other to do more adventurous types of stuff and it is generally a younger cohort of people,” Garda Hennessy explained.

“We are the ones who have to go out and deal with consequences then if there is an accident or if someone is killed.”

He said that contractors needed to ensure that their drivers were abiding by the rules of the road and pointed out that accidents would impact the contractors’ insurance.

PlayStation Generation

Bruff Garda Sergeant Mike Brennan said that by and large young tractor drivers were highly skilled and competent but there were part of a “PlayStation generation” that was bursting with enthusiasm.

He pointed out to a higher number of walkers on roads around rural Ireland during COVID-19 and said drivers needed to be on high alert at all times and could not afford to be distracted by social media.

Inspector Pat Brennan added that although the initiative was only local to Co Limerick at the moment he could see it expanded across the country.