Drink-driving is a significant concern and being convicted of drink-driving will attract strict penalties as well as everyday consequences such as job loss and higher insurance premiums

Though this is a serious matter, there have certainly been some unusual stories involving drink-driving, the most amusing of which we have listed below:

– One man who was three times over the limit, fell out of his van whilst driving. After stalling, the van started to reverse and the driver fell out into the road

– An individual who was over the limit, took his mother’s car without her consent (he would both unlicensed and uninsured) and then bizarrely called his mother when the car broke down

– A drunk burglar fell off his bike seven times when trying to escape from police after breaking into a shop. He was caught after giving up on his bike and tripping again trying to run away from officers

– A woman was given 10 points after refusing a breathalyser when it was claimed she was drunk on her mobility scooter

The following examples had been heard by courts in South Wales, and are just a few of many bizarre drink-driving stories.

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A company based in Virginia, United States, have designed a gun which can detect the frequency of a text message, phone call or data transfer.

As the law stands in the UK, you can get an automatic fixed penalty notice if you’re caught using a hand-held phone while driving or riding. You’ll get 3 penalty points on your licence and a fine of £100. Your case could also go to court and you could be disqualified from driving and get a maximum fine of £1,000.

New drivers will lose their licence if they get 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing their test – that means only getting caught twice on the phone.

The device, named a ‘texting gun’, is currently in production although no release date or price has been announced yet. The device can even apparently work out which person in the car is texting, so it will not alert police to issue a fine if it spots frequencies from a passenger.

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The tax disc is set to be replaced by an electronic system on 1^st October. This has caused a clash between RAC and DVLA. The RAC has claimed that the change will result in extra tax evasion amounting to about £167million a year.

They recently conducted a survey which suggested that 36% of motorists were unaware of the scrapping of the paper disc, whilst 47% did not know when the change was due to take effect. The poll also showed that 63% feared that there would be a rise in the number of untaxed cars on the road.

The DVLA, however, disagree saying that the new system will make vehicle tax easy to pay but hard to avoid. Oliver Morley, chief executive of the DVLA, argued that there was no requirement for a TV licence to be displayed in a window at home, but the system was still policed, so the same theory would hold for car tax.

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The cost of starting to drive has been identified as a potential cause for putting new and younger drivers off getting behind the wheel, a new study suggests.

The rising costs of driving lessons, car insurance, tax, MOT, and of course the purchase of a car all combine to a hefty sum, one which experts suggest are likely to result in a reduced incentive for younger drivers to take to the roads.

Ways to prevent this are available, however – if you opt for a smaller car to begin with, this is likely to cost less to purchase and to insure. Also, make sure you shop around for your insurance – the premium one provider offers you may be available at a significantly cheaper rate elsewhere, so spend some time looking before jumping at the first quote you see.

Additional driving courses such as the Pass Plus are also good ways to help reduce the cost of Insurance, as is adding an older, more qualified and “safer” driver to your policy – as long as the person who drives the car most is listed as the “named” driver, to prevent the possibility of being penalised for Insurance fraud – which could end up far more costly than an expensive premium.

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Many drivers, particularly those of a younger generation, are facing a new threat whilst behind the wheel – that of the distraction of technology.

Whilst elder drivers may have only had to deal with a limited number of friends and family in the passenger seats, it seems that drivers in more recent years have a whole new social circle to contend with when driving, via their mobile phones and social networking.

It is often reported how dangerous it can be to use your phone when driving, as this is likely to distract your attention and put yourself and others in danger, however this is mostly related to being on a phone-call or texting when behind the wheel. The more recent reality is that people with Smart phones are actually much more likely to spend longer on sites such as Facebook and Twitter than they do calling or texting any more – meaning that social networking whilst driving has become a much more dangerous threat.

When you are behind the wheel, you are responsible for the lives of not only yourself and your passengers, but other road users and even pedestrians around you. Using your mobile phone, be it for calling, texting, or social networking, will distract you and therefore make you dangerous to be on the road.

Safe driving from Britannia!

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With many mobile companies such as Samsung having introduced smart watches and Apple set to join the race with the iWatch, this poses a new problem for traffic law. Are these smartwatches legal to use when driving?

The introduction of iPads saw traffic regulators needing to adapt to this new technology and it is currently an offence to use an iPad or a similar tablet behind the wheel. What does this mean for the iWatch and similar devices? The iWatch, and similarly the Samsung Gear 2, allow the user to send and receive messages, make calls and surf the web much like smartphones. Therefore, it has the same uses as a handheld mobile phone.

The Department for Transport has confirmed that being caught using such devices will carry the same penalty as using a mobile phone. This means that being caught behind the wheel unsafely operating a smartwatch could carry a fixed penalty notice of £100 and three penalty points. In more serious cases, it could be taken to court where drivers face disqualification and a maximum £1,000 fine.

However, it is currently legal to use hands-free phones and sat-navs when driving – both functions that the smartwatches are capable of. Therefore, an officer could be hard pressed to tell if it’s being used illegally. The law does state, however, that if police think you’re distracted and not in control of your vehicle they can still stop and penalise motorists.

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A motorist has been pictured driving on a motorway with an iPad in front of the wheel. The picture was posted of Nichaila Flower, 24, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on Facebook by her half-sister Liffe Pritchard with the caption ‘On the M4 and she’s on her iPad’.

Pritchard later claimed that this was a joke and that the pair were stuck in traffic; however, another user commented that the speedometer could clearly be viewed in the photograph showing a speed between 70mph and 80mph.

Use of hand-held phones and similar devices, such as iPads, whilst driving is illegal, even when stopped at traffic lights or stuck in traffic. A recent study showed that the effect of using smartphones is worse on driver’s reactions than those who had reached the legal limit of alcohol or had taken cannabis.

Those caught using a device while driving or riding a motorcycle face an automatic fixed-penalty notice of three points on their licence and a fine of £100.

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A recent survey has shown that the number of women found guilty of drink-driving has almost doubled in the last few years.

Figures from 1998 suggest that women accounted for approximately 9% of the total drink-driving population – however the study in 2012 has dramatically revealed that the figure has rocketed to an astounding 17%, almost twice as high as the previous amount.

Almost two-thirds of those questioned also admitted to not being aware of the legal drink-drive limit on UK roads – whilst almost all of those quizzed claimed to be able to drink more alcohol than the “average woman”, considering themselves less of a risk to drive under the influence of alcohol that other females.

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An 18-year-old has been disqualified for drink driving less than 3 months after passing his test.

Alexander Picken, from Walsall in the West Midlands, was found to have 55mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath where the legal limit is 35mg/100ml. He had been driving after midnight when his vehicle struck a kerb and travelled along the pavement before colliding with a wall, causing damage.

He admitted to drinking a pint of lager and a shot of sambuca 15 minutes before getting behind the wheel but had not believed that he was over the limit.

Picken pleaded guilty to driving over the limit at Walsall Magistrates Court and was disqualified from driving for 15 months.

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