Truck drivers are increasingly being used as "target practice" by mindless youths who throw bricks and stones at vehicle windscreens with no sense of the tragedy they could cause, the president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) claimed yesterday.
Eamonn Morrissey, who was in Cork for the IRHA's annual conference, said the full rigours of the law should be applied to the person responsible for firing a shot at a truck driver on the M50 earlier this week.
"It is just totally shocking. There are no excuses for it. To think that somebody would go out and contemplate killing a driver for no reason. Imagine using a driver as target practice.
"This is going beyond a prank. These people don't have a conscience. I hope if this person is caught that he gets the appropriate punishment. You have to make an example of someone like this."
Dublin truck driver Paddy Roche was shot at as he made his way along the M50 motorway near the Red Cow in Dublin in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Luckily, he managed to bring his truck to a halt.
Mr Morrissey says Mr Roche, who is recovering at Tallaght Hospital, deserves high praise as without his quick response a number of lives could have been lost.
"It could have been a very serious incident. This is a busy motorway and there could have been a couple of cars around him doing 70 miles per hours. If the driver had been knocked unconscious several lives could have been lost.
"Or it could have been an oil tanker or a vehicle carrying any hazardous material. It is unbelievable."
Truck drivers are becoming increasingly concerned about incidents similar to Mr Roche's where teenagers at flyovers are throwing stones and bricks at their vehicles.
The IRHA claims truck drivers are already under enough pressure with traffic congestion on the roads without having to deal with thugs who target them for no reason.
Truck drivers are also finding an increase in aggressiveness on the roads, with behaviour that was considered abhorrent 20 years ago, being the norm today.
Mr Morrissey added that drivers have to contend with rocketing fuel prices and increases in rogue unlicensed operators without having the added worry of being attacked by youths with guns or stones.
A trade show of trucks and trailers will be open to the public today and tomorrow in the car park of the Rochestown Park Hotel.