'It gives cars a bad name': James May defends social media's role in promoting dangerous driving following A66 tragedy

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Speaking with LBC's James O’Brien, Mr May said online videos are not the sole source of inspiration for reckless drivers and insisted platforms like TikTok are not wholly to blame for the kind of dangerous driving which led to the deaths of seven people.

“I did watch a documentary about World War 2 the other day, but I didn’t then go and bomb Dresden,” James May insisted.

His comments come after seven people, including two police officers, died on the A66 over the weekend after a Volkswagen Passat drove the wrong way down the motorway, resulting in a head-on collision with a police armoured response vehicle.

One of the men who died had posted videos to social media earlier this year of him driving recklessly whilst being chased by the police. His video was one of hundreds across social media of people showing off dangerous driving.

It comes after LBC revealed the online accounts linked to cop-baiting and joyriding followed by one of the victims of Saturday's crash.

Read more: A66 crash: 'Horrific' content is 'unavoidable' for young people

Read more: Social media algorithms 'risk encouraging dangerous driving,' says minister following fatal A66 crash that claimed seven lives

“I just wanted to pull you up on one thing,” James May continued.

“You’re talking about the petrolhead gene, which you don’t have, and I don’t blame you. But please understand that real petrolheads and car enthusiasts hate this sort of thing you’re talking about because it ultimately gives cars a bad name.

“We’re not watching it thinking ‘wow that’s fantastic.’ People who really love cars and people who like driving cars fast go to things like track days where everything is regulated and everything is very safety-conscious.

“We’re really not into this stuff, it’s very very bad for our hobby.”

O’Brien then said that it may be too simplistic to blame the crash on TikTok or a “petrolhead gene,” to which May responded: “I would agree with you about not automatically blaming TikTok and social media, because I’ve always thought that’s a bit like blaming Rymans for people that write on A4 pads.”

The Government has criticised social media platforms for hosting dangerous driving videos, and has said that the powers of the Online Safety Act will be used to compel platforms to take these videos down.

Speaking to LBC on Monday, Defence Secretary Luke Pollard said: “We've already spoken to social media companies telling them to take down that type of content,

“It's important we work with them to remove that type of content online, because while it exists online, while that type of dangerous driving is celebrated and able to be shared with an algorithm that frequently will serve that type of content to more people, then I'm afraid we're at the risk of encouraging other people to undertake that dangerous driving, that incredibly dangerous behaviour on our roads.”

According to TikTok, content that causes physical harm, including dangerous driving, is prohibited, and the company works to remove videos and accounts that break its policies against posting dangerous activities.

A statement from Cleveland Police clarified that: "At the current time, there is no evidence to indicate that filming of the activities that took place on Friday night and Saturday morning has taken place for the purposes of TikTok."

TikTok has been contacted for further coment.