Two weeks after being banned for impaired driving, Michael Lambert, 30, got behind the wheel of a car again while over the legal alcohol limit.The Warwick resident was punished in Magistrates’ Court with fines totalling $2,500 and was disqualified from driving all vehicles for three years.He was one of five offenders who pleaded guilty to impaired driving and were given hefty fines by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner yesterday.Lambert initially denied three charges but later changed his plea to guilty on two counts, with an explanation.He admitted exceeding the legal limit of alcohol and driving while disqualified. The charges stem from a single vehicle accident on January 26 near Cobb’s Hill.Lambert told the court he was a passenger and that a friend was driving when the accident occurred.Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke said police found the car parked in his yard when they arrived.“He admitted that he drove the vehicle into his yard to avoid another accident,” she said.She also noted that the defendant was “just disqualified from driving all vehicles on January 10 for impaired driving”.The defendant explained that he “allowed a friend to drive his mother’s car when the accident occurred”.“He basically bailed on me and left the scene, but the car was situated on a blind corner so I decided to move it off the main road to avoid another accident,” he said.Insisting that he was a passenger when the accident occurred and not the driver, he said: “I thought the driver was a friend but he left me stranded.”When asked for the name of his friend he replied: “Jerome Williams and I haven’t seen or heard from him since, but I was looking out for other motorists.“The car was on a blind corner and in a very dangerous position, to avoid another accident I moved it and I was shaken up by the accident.”Mr Warner replied: “That was an extremely rational and thoughtful thing to do. You sound like you were real rational for a drunken man.“We’re talking about being drunk and very rational behaviour here. But you’re trying to tell me you let a strange man drive your mother’s car. “Said Mr Warner: “Truth is stranger than fiction and I don’t want anybody to think I’m cynical, but to tell you the truth I don’t believe your story.”He warned the defendant that while he was entitled to send him to jail for driving while disqualified, it was his duty to warn him the first time.“I make it a point to tell everyone who comes before me that there’s a term of imprisonment for the first offence, but I don’t normally do that.“Do it again and you will automatically go to jail,” he said.He fined the defendant $2000 for exceeding the legal alcohol limit, another $500 for driving while disqualified and disqualified from driving all vehicles for three years.Another Warwick resident pleaded guilty to exceeding the legal alcohol limit and riding an unlicensed motorcycle without insurance on February 2.Jairzinho Cooper, 38, was stopped by police at 2.30am after being spotted riding at an excessive speed. He was pulled over near the South Road entrance to the Botanical Gardens. Ms Clarke said officers noticed that the licence sticker had expired.The defendant said he was sorry and Mr Warner said: “Thank you.” He then issued three fines, $800 or 30 days in default for impaired driving, $500 for no insurance and $250 for riding an unlicensed bike.Paget resident Prem Dahal, 34, pled guilty to impaired driving on January 5.Police officers doing speed checks at Crow Lane noticed that he was wobbling on his motorcycle while riding on a straight stretch of road.When stopped by police, Ms Clarke said the officers noticed that his eyes were red and glazed and that his breath smelled of alcohol.When asked if he had been drinking, he said he only had two glasses of red wine.He apologised in court before he was fined $800 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for 18 months. Mr Warner gave him until March 7 to pay.Smith’s parish resident Caroline Davies, 31, said she “made a bad judgement” when she drove under the influence of alcohol on January 27.She was pulled over at 3am after officers on patrol noticed her “driving erratically and swerving back and forth over the yellow line”.Said Ms Clarke: “Her eyes were glazed, her speech was slurred and her breath smelled strong of alcohol.”When asked by the officers if she had been drinking she said she had a glass of wine. When asked again she replied: “Maybe I had two or three.”The defendant apologised to the court before she was fined $800 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for 18 months. She was given until March 7 to pay.St George’s resident Kalijai Simmons, 24, was spotted by police driving at an excessive speed on Front Street near the junction with Court Street at 2.35am on January 27.He was stopped near Burnaby Hill and told the arresting officers that he had a few glasses of wine.Ms Clarke noted: “It seems wine was very popular this weekend.”The defendant said: “I admit I was wrong, I just left my job’s party, I had too much to drink and here I am.”Mr Warner accepted his guilty plea and fined him $800 before disqualifying him from driving all vehicles for 18 months.