Helen Dugdale, a partner at a Liverpool law firm who regularly defends clients facing traffic charges was disqualified for 18 months, fined £800 and ordered to pay £650 in costs. She was arrested in her own driveway after a passer-by spotted her driving erratically and called the police.

She claimed a lesser ban at Manchester Magistrates Court claiming it would have a detrimental effect on her family life and ‘dent’ her reputation. The district judge told her that he need not say anything about the offence as it is her line of work. Indeed on her firm’s websites it states that she has a ‘vast knowledge’ of dealing with drink-driving cases.

On arriving at her home in Mossley Hill on the date of the incident, police saw Dugdale on the drive smelling of alcohol and noticed the car’s engine was warm along with other signs that it had recently been driven. The breath test indicated that she had 76mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, the maximum legal limit being 35mg.

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A recent survey has shown that a third of young drivers do not consider themselves ready to drive alone… despite recently passing their test.

29% of 18-30 year olds do not believe that their lessons or even their exam have equipped them with the tools necessary to begin driving without supervision.

Almost a quarter of the same group of 2,000 young drivers surveyed believe that if they had spent more time learning to drive, a previous accident would have been much more easily avoided.

Of this number, 21% still chose to avoid motorways, and almost 15% described themselves as “unprepared” to be behind the wheel in the first place.

The survey revealed other shocking statistics such as a third being too unconfident to drive in wet weather, over a fifth uncomfortable driving with others in the car, and even 8% being unwilling to perform a right-turn… despite this being a compulsory part of the driving test.

Like all things, driving requires some confidence. Remember, if you have passed your test, you are clearly capable of driving safely. Just remember to make sure you always do.

Safe driving from Britannia!

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It has long been suggested that the music you listen to whilst driving will affect how you drive.

According to new evidence from Ben-Gurion University, teenage drivers are the most greatly affected by their choice of listening material.

Young males especially are the most dangerous, as it was deemed that teenager boys generally listen to more aggressive music than their female counterparts, and their driving reflects this.

The higher number of mistakes made by younger drivers due to their in-car music was attributed to the inexperience of younger drivers, as well as their choice of stereotypically more aggressive dance and/or rock music.

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Feel like you drive a lot? If you have children, there’s a very good reason for that.

Recent research by Insurance Company Aviva has suggested that parents spend a vastly proportional amount of time driving their children around.

With an average of 27 journeys per week, this equates to an estimate of approximately 148 miles for every 168 hours.

This figure suggests that by the time their offspring has reached 17 – the ages where they can legally begin driving themselves around- their parents have driven them roughly 125,000 miles… or in other terms, half way to the moon.

So next time you think about how much your children are driving you mad, think about how much you are driving them around too.

Safe driving from Britannia!

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Research has been conducted at the University of Negev that suggests that teens who listen to their favourite music on the road are significantly more distracted and commit errors in their driving. A driving instructor/researcher accompanied 85 novice male and female drivers on six different 40-minute trips. On two of the trips, drivers played music from their own playlists; two trips involved background music that was designed to increase driver safety; and the final trips involved no music at all.

It was found that when the drivers were listening to their favourite music (dance, techno and rock topping the list, followed closely by punk, pop, hip-hop and rap), 98% of them averaged three deficient driving behaviours, with 32% requiring a verbal warning or command. 20% even required assisted braking or steering from the instructor to prevent an imminent accident.

When there was no music in the car, 92% of drivers made errors, whilst listening to the music selected by the researchers, errors dropped by 20%. The music contained a mix of easy listening, light jazz and soft rock and did not include vocal performances or lyrics.

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