An 86-year-old woman from York was convicted for a motoring offence after accidentally writing an 'F' instead of an 'S' on her car insurance papers for her Suzuki Splash. The pensioner had paid for a year's worth of car insurance with Swinton Insurance, unaware of the mistake. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) later sent a letter revealing she was facing criminal prosecution for keeping a vehicle without insurance. The Single Justice Procedure (SJP) fast-tracked the woman's conviction in a private hearing, a system that has led to numerous wrongful prosecutions, including against people who are ill or have died. The SJP was invented in 2015 as a cheaper way to handle low-level criminal cases, with a magistrate deciding based on written evidence alone. In the pensioner's case, magistrate David Pollard accepted a written guilty plea and imposed a conviction, sentencing her to a three-month conditional discharge and ordering her to pay a fee. The DVLA said it will contact the woman to check her insurance paperwork and seek to overturn the conviction if the typo was to blame.
In a separate incident in Bury, a woman has been arrested after a car crashed through the wall of JD Gym, injuring a man inside. The crash occurred at about 17:00 BST on Tuesday, with a man in his 60s struck by the car and suffering non-life-threatening injuries. A woman in her 40s has been arrested on suspicion of causing injury by dangerous driving and remains in hospital. JD Gym in Bury stated on social media that the gym will remain closed until further notice due to damage from the incident.
Meanwhile, in Australia, Natalie Alice Shaw, 22, lost her licence for six months after driving off with a road-raging driver gripping onto her bonnet on the Gold Coast in July 2025. The incident began when Shaw encountered another driver going the wrong way in a carpark. The other driver jumped onto Shaw's bonnet, and Shaw drove at speeds up to 60km/h while trying to get her off. Magistrate Sarah Thompson disqualified Shaw from driving for six months, calling the behavior bizarre and dangerous.
In Sweden, a 19-year-old woman was fined for driving without a license after she claimed she accidentally rolled a car on a parking lot, but the court found she drove a significant distance. Police observed the car driving too fast on a parking lot and followed it, noting a woman was driving and a man was in the passenger seat. The court fined her 1500 kronor in day fines and an additional 1000 kronor to the crime victim fund.
I did not intend to drive and accidentally pressed something causing the car to roll.
In Westminster, a woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car hit pedestrians in Argyll Street at around 4:30am on Sunday. A woman in her 30s is in critical condition and a man in his 50s suffered life-changing injuries, with a second woman in her 30s suffering minor injuries. The driver, a 29-year-old woman, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, and drink driving. The incident is not being treated as terrorism-related. Detective chief inspector Alison Foxwell called for witnesses to come forward.
Another Swedish case saw a woman in her 20s sentenced to one year and ten months in prison for gross negligence in traffic, unauthorized driving, and causing two deaths and serious injury in a crash in Gävle on June 6. The crash occurred when the woman, who never had a driver's license, drove at 154 km/h on a 70 km/h road, veered off, and hit a tree and a stone. Two men died in the crash: Robin Henriksson, 21, from Kalix, and another man in his 20s; a woman in her 30s was seriously injured. On the night of June 6, 2025, a woman in her 30s drove off Bönavägen at 154 kilometers per hour.
In the UK, Faye Dawson, 50, from Cheadle, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison and disqualified from driving for four years and seven months for dangerous driving. Dawson was filmed telling children in her van 'I'm not responsible if you die' while driving at 80mph on the wrong side of the road before crashing on March 7 last year. There were five passengers in the car, four of whom were injured. On the evening of January 20 this year, several concerned motorists reported a wobbly and extremely fast car journey on E22 near Hjärup, with one witness driving at 110 km/h when the woman's car flew past.
In California, two people were killed in a head-on collision on Monday involving a wrong-way driver. The three-vehicle collision occurred on White Rock Road near Prairie City Road south of Highway 50 around 8:20 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP). CHP officials reported the wrong-way vehicle was driven by a 41-year-old man traveling west on eastbound White Rock Road when it crashed into a vehicle driven by a 21-year-old woman. Another eastbound vehicle traveling behind the woman also became involved in the crash and spun out of control. The wrong-way driver and the 21-year-old woman were both killed in the crash. The driver of the third vehicle suffered minor to moderate injuries, according to the CHP. Witnesses reported that the wrong-way driver was speeding around 80 to 100 mph. CHP is currently investigating the collision and why the wrong-way driver was driving recklessly. Although wrong-way crashes only account for a small percentage of fatal highway collisions, these types of accidents are almost always deadly.
It was a chaotic trip with alcohol and distractions.
To address the dangers that wrong-way drivers pose to California’s roads, the CHP and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) created a pilot program that aims to prevent future incidences. The wrong-way driver prevention pilot program will focus on U.S. Route 50, Interstate 5 and Interstate 80. The project will install wrong-way traffic signs with an advanced monitoring system that will alert CHP and Caltrans whenever a vehicle is driving in the wrong lane. The signs will be equipped with cameras that take photographs of the vehicle for law enforcement to use. The project also includes the installment of pavement markers that flash to alert a driver.
In San Leandro, two people died and two California Highway Patrol officers were injured when a pair of crashes ended a pursuit early Saturday morning, authorities said. Just before 3:45 a.m., CHP officers assigned to the Dublin area attempted to stop the driver of a white Mercedes sedan, which they say was traveling at high speeds on westbound Interstate 580, east of Eden Canyon Road in Castro Valley. The driver of the Mercedes took off from officers, beginning a pursuit that continued into San Leandro, authorities said. CHP officers said the driver tried to exit onto East 14th Street from the westbound Interstate 238. Officers said the vehicle, for unknown reasons, crashed into a sound wall. Two officers in a CHP unit tried to take the same exit and also crashed into the sound wall, the CHP said. The unit did not crash into the Mercedes, authorities said. The driver and one passenger in the Mercedes were pronounced dead at the scene, officers said. A third passenger in the vehicle was taken to a nearby hospital with major injuries. Authorities said both CHP officers were taken to a hospital with 'major, non-life-threatening injuries.' The CHP's Golden Gate Division Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team is investigating the crash. Officials have not released the identities of the two people who died.
In London, emergency services shut off East Ferry Road, near Crossharbour DLR station, today (October 27) at 2.16pm following a traffic incident. Photographs seen by this paper show a traffic light knocked down with a damaged car next to it. The London Ambulance Service treated three people at the scene, with two of them being taken to hospital – with their condition unknown at this time. However, the third person was discharged at the scene. East Ferry Road was closed both ways around Pepper Street for hours today, with the 135, D6 and D8 bus routes diverted.
On the UK's A14, two people have died following a serious collision between a lorry and a van on a major road. Northamptonshire Police confirmed a crash occurred between a white Volkswagen Caddy and an HGV lorry on the westbound carriageway of the A14. The incident took place between Welford and the M1 interchange at Catthorpe on just after 21:00 GMT on Wednesday. The passenger in the Volkswagen, a man in his 40s, died at the scene and the driver of the Volkswagen, a man in his 20s, was believed to have exited his vehicle but was struck and killed when he entered the eastbound carriageway.