Guest Post: Top 10 Bad Celebrity Drivers

When the engineers at the Ford Motor Company released the Model T in 1908, they knew the revolution to come. What they did not predict were the many famed blunders to come. From intoxicated rants to “oops, I did it again,” here are the top 10 bad celebrity drivers.

10. Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods gained fame during the late 1990s for his exceptional golf skills. In recent years, he has become infamous for his spousal missteps. The event that made us privy to his domestic excitement was a late-night collision with a tree and then a fire hydrant, which lead to speculation about his emotional state.

9. George Michael
Wham! star George Michael entered the limelight in the early ’80s and never really left. His high points have included working with charities to helping AIDS patients and those suffering famine. His lows have included several instances of driving while intoxicated and once crashing into a storefront in 2010.

8. January Jones
When she crashed her car as Betty Draper on Mad Men, January Jones was acting. When she struck a few parked vehicles, she was fleeing paparazzi. She has since kept her eyes on the road.

7. Paris Hilton
Notorious party girl and hotel heiress Paris Hilton has seen her fair share of motor drama. She spent 23 days in jail for driving while intoxicated and has also been the passenger in a hit-and-run by boyfriend Cy Waits, who said they were defending themselves from aggressive paparazzi.

6. Hugh Grant
Romance film charmer Hugh Grant made the news when he solicited a prostitute and made the executive decision to receive the services in his car. Police officers were investigating his car’s sporadically illuminating brake lights when they found him in his vulnerable position.

5. Billy Joel
Songwriter Billy Joel regained attention in the early 2000s with a string of three car accidents. One incident prompted him to seek rehabilitation for alcohol misuse. His final infraction involved him driving into a house. Since then, he has kept all four tires on the road.

4. Britney Spears
After her, “horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi,” Britney Spears hopped into her car and drove away with her four-month-old son on her lap. Another day, she was charged with a hit-and-run and driving without a license. These incidents went some way towards causing her to lose custody of her children, which she since regained after her successful comeback a couple of years later.

3. Rowan Atkinson
Shortly after setting records on BBC’s Top Gear, Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson startled fans when he lost control of his prized McLaren F1 and crashed into a tree. He was discharged from the hospital shortly after with an injured shoulder.

2. Amanda Bynes
Actress Amanda Bynes has made headlines throughout the summer of 2012. In April, she was involved in a wreck with a police car and was charged with driving under the influence. She was in two more accidents in May according to TMZ. Then she was accused of a hit-and-run by a woman in August.

1. Mel Gibson
Perhaps the most famously irritable driver is Mel Gibson. In 2010, he steered into the side of a hill, but that was only a minor blunder compared to his infamous DUI charge in 2006. What began as a simple arrest turned hostile when Gibson allegedly tried to escape custody, threatened the arresting officer, and made several anti-Semitic remarks. He might be evidence that driving lessons should also come with anger management ones.
This article was provided by PassSmart, the UK’s easiest way for learners to find a local driving instructor.