Hundreds of thousands of Liverpool Football Club fans filled the city streets to celebrate their English Premier League title. Joy turned to horror shortly after 6 p.m. when a grey Ford Galaxy drove into the packed crowd just minutes after the club’s open-top bus had passed through.
Forty-seven people were injured, including four children. Twenty-seven were taken to hospital, and two victims remain in serious condition. Authorities responded swiftly to the incident, arresting a 53-year-old local man at the scene. While disturbing, police confirmed the act is not being treated as terrorism and is believed to be an isolated event.
Eyewitnesses reported that the vehicle paused, appearing to engage in an altercation with fans. Moments later, the driver reversed briefly and then accelerated into the crowd. The motivation remains unclear, and officials have urged the public not to speculate or spread misinformation about the man’s intent.
Vehicle-ramming incidents are becoming alarmingly more common worldwide. Although many are not classified as terrorism, their frequency demands attention. Authorities and city planners need to identify patterns and risk factors to better protect public gatherings from such threats in the future.
Recent global examples paint a troubling picture. On April 26 in Vancouver, Canada, a man drove an SUV into a Filipino heritage celebration, killing 11. Just four days earlier, in Jinhua, China, 14 people were killed when a woman drove into pedestrians near a school. In Mannheim, Germany, on March 3, two people died after a car rammed into a pedestrian zone.
Similar deadly incidents happened in Munich, New Orleans, and Magdeburg in recent months. The December 20 attack in Magdeburg left six people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and injured nearly 300 others. Only two of these seven recent tragedies have been confirmed as terrorism, illustrating that most such incidents are not ideologically motivated.
In many cases, the perpetrators had documented psychiatric histories. In Mannheim and Vancouver, attackers were reportedly struggling with mental health issues. This reinforces that while terrorism grabs headlines, many vehicle-ramming attacks arise from personal or psychological crises.
Australia has also seen such violence. In January 2017, a man deliberately struck pedestrians on Bourke Street in Melbourne, killing six and injuring dozens. Later that year, another car ramming in the city left one person dead. Though neither was labelled terrorism, they exposed flaws in urban design and public safety.
Globally, researchers have documented at least 152 vehicle-ramming attacks against civilian crowds since 2000, resulting in an estimated 511 deaths. The deadliest was the 2016 Nice attack in France, when a truck killed 86 people during Bastille Day celebrations. That incident was linked to terrorism, and eight individuals were later convicted.
The United States (31), China (29), Germany (14), and Israel (14) have recorded the most incidents. The UK had six before Liverpool, and Australia has experienced five. In 2025 alone, 14 incidents have already been logged, leading to 50 or more fatalities worldwide.
Importantly, less than one-third of these cases were acts of terrorism. This data shifts the narrative from terrorism alone to a broader set of concerns, such as mental health, social frustration, and spontaneous rage.
Event planners and city governments must recognize that intent matters less than impact. Whether driven by hate or mental breakdown, a vehicle in a crowd can cause catastrophic damage. That’s why risk mitigation is vital, especially during large public events.
Effective steps to enhance safety include:
– Installing barriers that can withstand high-speed impacts, not just cones or caution tape.
– Tightly spacing barriers to prevent vehicles from slipping through.
– Disrupting long, open roadways with kiosks, fences, or parked vehicles to slow down any potential threat.
– Restricting vehicle access to only essential and pre-approved emergency vehicles.
– Maintaining restrictions post-event, ensuring no cars enter until the area is completely cleared.
Simply put, unauthorised vehicles should never be able to access crowd zones, before, during, or after public events. With vehicle-ramming attacks becoming more common, the onus is on governments and communities to act swiftly and reinforce safety measures.
As authorities work to understand motives and prevent future incidents, public awareness and urban safety enhancements remain key tools in protecting lives from what is becoming an increasingly visible threat.
