Mickey Rourke Charged with DUI

Controversial, bad boy actor Mickey Rourke is back in the news but probably not for the reason he would like. According to Associated Press, Rourke was arrested in Miami Beach on Thursday morning after being caught performing an illegal u-turn and swerving wildly. What's even more surprising is that the actor was not on a Harley or riding in a high performance sports car, instead his vehicle of choice was a mint green Vespa which will do nothing for his street cred.

It's the Vespa that takes this story touch above the ordinary, but where does it rank with other celebrities and their driving problems? Let's take a look at some recent infractions and you, the reader can decide.

"The Simple Life" stars, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton have both had traffic violation problems in recent times. Miss Hilton's infraction, driving with a suspended license, landed her in jail, then out, then back in for a short period of time. That seems petty compared to Nicole who was caught driving in the wrong direction on a Los Angeles freeway, clearly under the influence. She can probably counter herself very lucky that she was eventually only sentenced to serve 4 days in jail.

Driving problems are not just the curse of spoiled diva's and B movie actors, last year superstar Mel Gibson was stopped by police and charged with a DUI before launching a foul-mouthed, anti-Semitic tirade upon the arresting officer. The controversy that swirled around those remarks actually made his driving offence pale into relative insignificance.

King of the DUI though has to go to singer Billy Joel who has had 3 incidents since 2002 including totaling his car in a collision with a tree and, in a separate incident in January 2003 crashing into the home of a 94 year old Long Island native. It was that crash that, according to Buzzle.com, forced Joel to seek help via rehab.

On the lighter side, it's not always alcohol that is the cause of vehicular mishaps. Back in 2004, on the red carpet at the Maxim Hot 100 awards show, Kimberly Stewart, daughter of aging rocker Rod Stewart, posed alongside Paris Hilton on custom built choppers. Miss Stewart chose that moment to start the chopper and headed off down the carpet for a short trip before falling off revealing to all in attendance what she was, or wasn't, wearing under her evening gown.

I'm sure this isn't the last celeb we'll see with a spot of car trouble and you really have to wonder why they don't spend a small fraction of the millions of dollars they make on a limo or, better yet, a full time driver to take them home from the clubs. It's a little scary that a lot of the younger generation look up to these stars, especially the likes of Lindsey Lohan and Brittney Spears, who have also had their fair share of problems, and we can all only hope that they choose NOT to copy this behavior.