A ROLLERBLADER who was caught on video hanging onto the back of a bus and hitching a spin up O’Connell Street has been labelled “absolutely reckless”.
The incident was captured on video by Ciarán Farrelly while he was going home from work on Monday evening.
“The guy grabbed on to the bus just as it pulled off and held on from the top of O’Connell St to the Spire,” Farrelly explained.
The video shows the backpack wearing rollerblader cruising along and bumping over Luas lines as the bus trundles down one of Dublin’s busiest streets.
Other vehicles can be heard beeping and people turn their heads to watch the unusual scene.
“Loving it”
“The passers-by seemed bemused, and the bus drivers were beeping wildly. Which mainly drew more attention to it,” Ciarán said.
The rollerblader looked chilled out. He was loving it. Didn’t seem fazed at all.
“Russian roulette”
Brian Farrell of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) described the behaviour as “absolutely reckless”.
It really beggars belief – this person is putting themselves at risk, and it’s really a form of Russian roulette.
A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus said it is investigating the incident.
“These are extremely dangerous actions which could result in serious injury and Dublin Bus strongly discourages anyone from partaking in such reckless behaviour,” the spokeswoman said.
Brian added that ‘scutting’ (clinging to the back of a vehicle to hitch a ride) has become a common problem.
It’s not just this individual or an isolated case. This is happening more regularly… people are putting their own lives at risk for a cheap thrill.
A number of videos of young people scutting have surfaced on social media in recent months. Drivers have said this is a frequent issue, particularly in Tallaght and Finglas.
The design of Dublin Bus’s new ‘SG’ model is said to be facilitating the behaviour.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say