Blog warrior takes aim at the worst drivers on Ireland’s roads
Niall O’Keeffe is the brains behind the country’s newest blog sensation, shitedrivers.com, a daily record of the awful, inconsiderate and potentially lethal habits of motorists who haven’t a clue and don’t give a damn.
Together with three fellow blogging enthusiasts, Niall began chronicling some of the worst examples online a couple of months ago and now the website is crammed with contributions from other fed-up motorists eager to share their ire.
Judging by the content, Irish roads are crawling with car owners who park in junction boxes, overtake in situations James Bond wouldn’t tackle, think nothing of going the wrong way around roundabouts and believe back windows are for displaying cuddly toys rather than an aid to visibility.
Contributors are asked to describe what they’ve witnessed and photographs and video footage are particularly welcome so long as faces and registration numbers are obscured. Niall may be happy to tackle bad drivers but he doesn’t want to take on the law as well.
The 30-year-old Limerick city native works full time for mobile phone company 3 in Dundalk. He also hosts the Friday night Wall of Sound music show on local radio station Dundalk FM 100, so he already has a busy life and the website was meant to be a bit of fun rather than a crusade.
“I’m absolutely shocked. I never thought it would get so much reaction. I know it’s an emotive topic but really it was only for a bit of amusement because myself and a few friends found we were always complaining about other drivers,” he said.
He was even more surprised to find his work had the support of the Road Safety Authority and the Automobile Association, which have both praised it. “If it does something to highlight the problem of bad driving then it will have served more than its purpose.
“I suppose it gives people a chance to let off steam too. If you’re fed up with someone else’s behaviour, instead of getting out of your car and smacking them over the head, you can keep a lid on it until you get home and then let loose online.”
Niall has one key request to contributors, however, which is that they refrain from taking photographs while driving themselves or at least ask a passenger to do the honours. “We have enough material as it is — we don’t want to create more shite drivers.”
