{"id":531538,"date":"2026-07-03T18:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/531538\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T18:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:45:14","slug":"cork-city-neighbourhood-terrorised-by-speeding-young-bikers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/531538\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork city neighbourhood terrorised by speeding young bikers"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 89-year-old woman, who was injured in a fall caused by speeding motorbikes, has said she and her\u00a0Cork city<\/a> neighbours are afraid to leave their homes because of the constant presence of the bikes.<\/p>\n

Neighbours in the\u00a0northside<\/a> area have had their car and home windows broken for reporting the reckless driving to garda\u00ed, her daughter said, which was why they wished to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

The elderly woman told The Echo of the day she got injured: \u201cI\u2019d waited all day for the bikes to be gone from outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt around half six, it was quiet, so I thought they must be gone for their tea, I could take the dog for a little walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

While out talking to a neighbour, two scrambler bikes drove past her at speed, one on either side of her but moving in opposite directions.<\/p>\n

Caused woman to fall<\/p>\n

This frightened the dog, who turned and pulled the woman off her feet, causing her to fall.<\/p>\n

She recalled: \u201cI could see myself going, but I couldn\u2019t grab onto anything, it happened so fast. I felt all the air going out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She landed on her left side, but ended up face down with her arms above her head and legs sprawled out beside her. The scrambler bikes carried on, speeding up and down either side of her while she was on the ground.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t one part of my body that wasn\u2019t hurting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

The neighbour helped her up, and rang the woman\u2019s daughter, who said that her mother told her: \u201cI thought it was the last breath coming out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman, who will be 90 this summer, was taken to urgent care, then the emergency department at the Mercy University Hospital, and was badly bruised. Her arm was put in a sling and she is receiving continued medical care.<\/p>\n

Her daughter told The Echo that the scramblers are an ongoing issue, creating huge noise and fear, speeding past within a foot of people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey have the neighbourhood held ransom.”\n <\/p>\n

The riders are usually between 14 and 17, but sometimes as young as 10, she said, and usually wear \u201cintimidating\u201d balaclavas.<\/p>\n

‘Somebody is going to be killed’<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody is going to be killed\u201d by the scramblers, she said, such as young children who play in the area.<\/p>\n

When she reported the scramblers to garda\u00ed, some were supportive, but one said: \u201cHow can we catch them? They go too fast.\u201d Since the incident, the woman said that she isn\u2019t able to hold the dog lead and her walking stick, due to her injuries, but mostly she is scared: \u201cI\u2019m afraid to go out now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very sad to think the only outlet I have is gone. I feel nervous even around the house now, in case I trip.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey don\u2019t care who they hurt; we are in their way, that is their attitude. The kids don\u2019t care once they\u2019re getting a kick, and the garda\u00ed make you feel like you\u2019re the nuisance, not the bikes.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThe neighbours in this area are lovely, but we don\u2019t get to have a chat anymore, because they\u2019re all afraid to go out.\u201d Neighbours have had their car and home windows broken into for reporting the behaviour to garda\u00ed, her daughter said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf they\u2019re out in this weather wearing balaclavas, you know they\u2019re up to no good and don\u2019t want to be identified.”\n <\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in TD Thomas Gould, said: \u201cSpeaking to that lady, it was so close to being a tragedy. Must someone else die for garda\u00ed to have a zero-tolerance policy for scramblers?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s happening every night, right across the city, and in a lot of situations the garda\u00ed know who they are, but nothing is done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Grace\u2019s law came in, residents were hopeful that this would be the end of it, but it\u2019s worse the situation has got: It seems someone will be killed in Cork before these people are tackled.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 89-year-old woman, who was injured in a fall caused by speeding motorbikes, has said she and her\u00a0Cork…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-531538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}