Skip to main content

Very under the influence

When a doctor crashed his car in the UK recently police were quickly at the scene of the incident and breathalysed the driver. He was found to have a blood alcohol count three times that of the permitted level. He explained that immediately after the crash he crawled from his wrecked BMW, opened a bottle of vodka he had with him and drank from this in a bid to steady his nerves. However this explanation was not believed in court as the man had been drinking the night before and was thought to still have
December 18, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

When a doctor crashed his car in the UK recently police were quickly at the scene of the incident and breathalysed the driver. He was found to have a blood alcohol count three times that of the permitted level. He explained that immediately after the crash he crawled from his wrecked BMW, opened a bottle of vodka he had with him and drank from this in a bid to steady his nerves. However this explanation was not believed in court as the man had been drinking the night before and was thought to still have alcohol in his system. He was banned from driving for 25 months and also fined heavily. Meanwhile in the US state of Florida, a drunk-driver crashed his car into a police vehicle at an intersection. The police vehicle was then shoved forward into another, resulting in damage to all three cars. Unusually, one of the police vehicles damaged in the incident was specifically intended to heighten the dangers of drink-driving. Both police vehicles were displaying flashing lights at the time, so how he managed not to see them is unclear. The man was found to be heavily intoxicated and charged accordingly and the incident occurred during the ‘Pirate Fest’ celebrations taking place that weekend. It is not clear which pirate character he was hoping to emulate. There were no injuries in the incident and the drunk-driver was taken to the nearest police station in one of the two slightly bent police vehicles.

Related Content

  • Rebuilding a historic bridge linking the US and Canada
    March 8, 2016
    While many road authorities in North America are finding it difficult to stretch their bridge assets beyond half a century, one bridge is closing in on its centenary - David Arminas reports The international Peace Bridge, connecting the Canadian province of Ontario with the US state of New York, is 88 years young this year, and still going strong.
  • Red light stop
    June 27, 2014
    A driver in the UK was issued with a parking ticket, when stopped at a red light. The driver was issued the parking ticket as his vehicle was spotted halted at a bus stop. After the driver appealed, the local authorities admitted that issuing the parking ticket had been a mistake. Also in the UK, a Welshman received a rather unpleasant surprise when he opened his post. He had been sent fines for driving his vehicle in a bus lane and parking illegally in London, around 400km away.
  • European police take action on truck and bus safety
    April 14, 2015
    Two recent operations handled by pan-European police body TISPOL have helped tackle truck and bus safety. The action taken against rogue trucking firms led to more than 4,000 immediate vehicle prohibitions. This followed checks on nearly 184,908 trucks across 29 countries and resulted in police handing out charges for a total of 48,386 separate offences. Those included 187 drivers being charged for alcohol and drug offences, 4,691 offences of exceeding the speed limit, 10,306 instances of drivers exceeding
  • The UK’s pothole crisis is causing vehicle damage and crashes
    July 1, 2019
    The poor state of maintenance of UK roads is a factor in many crashes while also causing damage to vehicles according to road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart. In a bid to address the issue, IAM RoadSmart is calling for a long-term plan to tackle the problem. According to a survey it conducted, nearly 50% of the respondents have experienced pothole damage to their vehicles. The government’s Transport Select Committee has issued a report stating that the current short-term approach to financing road maintenan