Drunk driver ‘grassed up’ by his own car

DRINK-drivers face a new threat — from their own cars informing on them to the police.

The PSNI in Craigavon reported how officers caught a drunk driver when his high-tech car telephoned to let them know it had been in a crash.

In a Facebook post, Craigavon PSNI wrote: “Some cars these days are pretty clever.

“Did you know that some can even phone police automatically to let us know you’ve crashed?!

“That’s right, you’re picking this up correctly — a CAR phoned us to let us know about a crash last night, when it turned out the driver was drunk.

“You think you’re having a rough weekend?

“At least your car hasn’t touted on you!”

New in-car communications systems — such as Ford’s SYNC Emergency Assistance technology — can now place a call to the emergency services through the car’s Bluetooth-connected mobile phone if a crash is detected by the car’s sensors.

The Craigavon PSNI team posted: “That’s a really good safety feature. But a really bad feature to have if you’re a drink driver.”

“Feel free to phone us if you suspect someone is drink-driving,” they added.

“This driver wasn’t the only drunk driver caught over the weekend.

“We do take action, but your help is vital in ridding the road of these potential death drivers.”