Police were called at about midnight to the A611, near Annesley, where they found the man’s car in a field by the side of the road.

A female passenger, who was also in the car, was taken to hospital where she was being treated for minor injuries.

The northbound section of the road was closed while investigations were carried out. Police said they were not sure whether anyone else was involved

A review of nine studies found that drivers were more likely to be involved in a collision with another car after smoking the class B drug.

Figures show there are around a million users of cannabis in the UK aged 16 to 24 – double the number for the entire 16 to 59 age group.

The research, published in the British Medical Journal, found cannabis use resulted in a “near doubling of risk of a driver being involved in a collision resulting in serious injury or death”.

The researchers, based at Dalhousie University in Canada, went on to say, however, that the impact of cannabis consumption “on the risk of minor crashes remains unclear”. Previous studies have suggested that cannabis impairs a person’s mental abilities and the “motor tasks” needed for safe driving, increasing the risk of being a crash.

The experts added: “The results also accord with recent data for collisions that point to the increasing presence of drugs other than alcohol (especially cannabis and depressants of the central nervous system) in injured and fatally injured drivers.”

The study is thought to be the first looking at crashes solely after taking cannabis.

Others have not differentiated between the effects of alcohol and other substances.

The present review involved people who either tested positive for cannabis use through blood tests – or who said they had used cannabis – in the previous three hours.

In all, more than 49,000 people were included in the nine studies.

The range of vehicles they were driving was wide, said the researchers.

It included cars, vans, sport utility vehicles, light or heavy trucks, buses, motorcycles or scooters, all terrain vehicles and snowmobiles

At Leicester Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Sarbjit Singh pleaded guilty to arranging for another person to take the examination in the city.

Prosecutor Ian Johnson said the ruse was uncovered when Singh turned up at the centre, in Halford Street, months later to take the same test.

He said a man purporting to be Singh had turned up at the centre on June 16 to take the examination in English.

Mr Johnson said the examiner became suspicious and asked a colleague for a second opinion.

They asked the man for his date of birth and postcode and he answered correctly after hesitating.

He said the men were still unconvinced and asked the man to go home and return with his passport.

Mr Johnson said: “The man left the test centre and never returned. He has not been traced.”

Singh, of Wyvern Avenue, Northfields, Leicester, turned up at the centre on October 25 to take his theory test in his native Punjabi.

Mr Johnson said: “The same examiner was present and believed the man who turned up on October 25 was not the same man who had turned up on June 16.”

Police were informed and when Singh was arrested later that day, he admitted his crime.

Bally Paul, defending Singh, said her client was a man of previous good character who had made a mistake.

She said Singh, who has been in the country for 12 months on a two-year work permit, thought the theory test had to be taken in English.

Mrs Paul said his English was not good so he spoke to a family friend who arranged for someone else to take the test on his behalf.

When the man turned up at Singh’s house asking for his passport to take the test, his older brother stepped in.

She said: “His older brother said ‘What are you doing? You must not carry this on. This is fraudulent’.”

Mrs Paul said Singh was full of remorse and had brought shame on himself and his family, after moving to England to make money to send back to his wife and two children in India.

Mr Johnson said the offence was a very serious one as it could lead to an unqualified driver putting lives at risk on the roads.

Chairman of the bench Graham Read adjourned sentencing to enable the Probation Service to produce a report.

He told Singh: “We are leaving all our sentencing options open.

“This means the court which sentences you may send you to prison or send you to crown court for a greater punishment.”

Singh was released on unconditional bail.

The ‘Safe Texting’ campaign is urging drivers to download ‘iZUP Lite’ – a text blocking solution which helps prevent drivers from becoming distracted by their mobile phones.

iZUP Lite uses GPS to determine if you are driving or not and contains a customizable auto-reply feature that immediately notifies callers that the recipient is driving and will respond to the text when the trip is complete. The App also blocks access to popular social networking and email applications.

The campaign targets all drivers, but pays particular attention to young drivers who are more easily distracted and susceptible to taking risks than older drivers.

Noel Gibbons, Mayo’s road safety officer, said: “We need to change the attitudes in our society towards texting and driving. Any distraction while driving is disturbing, including calls on mobile phones, but texting is really taking it to a much more serious level.”

The accident happened on the A158 at Burgh Le Marsh on Friday morning after a white Fiesta van and a blue Fiat Punto were involved in a collision.

The 18-year-old man from Skegness was taken to Boston Pilgrim Hospital by air ambulance, but died on Friday evening.

An inquest is expected to be opened and adjourned later this week.

Aston Midshires Insurance, based in Enderby, has been selling car insurance aimed at young drivers.

Police, Trading Standards and the Financial Services Authority are investigating the company.

The firm has now removed its website and stopped answering its phones.

‘Tip of the iceberg’

Keith Regan, from the county council’s trading standards team, said there had been 30 complaints from people who had paid for motor insurance but found it not to be valid.

“I think we’ve only got the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“We know that the website is linked to foreign addresses.

“The fact that City of London Fraud Squad are involved, it’s going to be big,” he said.

Leicestershire County Council Trading Standards has urged anyone who has bought their car insurance from Aston Midshires Insurance not to drive until they have legal insurance cover.

“There may be hundreds and possibly thousands of people out there who have got vehicles that aren’t insured,” Mr Regan said.

“There’s consequences not just for them but also for those people they may have an accident with.”

Aston Midshires Insurance’s headquarters is listed as being at a building on Grove Business Park in Enderby. The company has no offices there and never did, according to the owners of the building.

Driver Ryan Kirk, 19, of Briggs Lodge, Denford Ash and Charlotte Filer, 17, of Lilac Place, Kettering, were in a car on Warkton Lane.

Police said it is believed to have collided with a car travelling in the opposite direction on Tuesday evening.

The driver of the other car, a 33-year-old woman from Kettering, was not seriously injured.

Anyone who witnessed the crash or has any information about it is asked to contact police.

Officers particularly want to speak to the drivers of two vehicles that stopped at the scene after the collision and spoke to emergency services.

A teenage driver died after losing control of his car on a bend, an inquest heard.

Brad Wootton’s white Rover slid sideways along the wrong side of the A444, near Twycross Zoo, and hit an oncoming vehicle.

The force of the impact launched the 17-year-old’s car into the air, and he was killed instantly.

Lee Twigg, who was driving the other vehicle, gave evidence at an inquest into the teenager’s death yesterday.

Mr Twigg, from nearby Albert Village, told the inquest: “I was taking my son to his mum in Nuneaton. It was about 5.40pm when I strapped him into the car and set off.

“It had been raining on and off that day. Near the zoo, a white car came out of control around the corner.

“He was coming towards me sideways on my side of the road. I braked and crashed into him.”

Mr Twigg was taken to Burton Queen’s Hospital with minor injuries and discharged after treatment.

Mr Wootton, from Carlton, near Market Bosworth, suffered severe injuries to his internal organs in the crash, which happened at about 6.10pm on Sunday, June 12, last year.

Pc Neil Holmes, who investigated the accident, said the Rover had been travelling with enough speed to push Mr Twigg’s heavier Ford Mondeo backwards, but that it was unclear exactly how fast Mr Wootton had been travelling.

The road was wet at the time of crash and Pc Holmes found no tyre marks to suggest where the car lost control or why. He told the inquest there were gouge marks in the road, suggesting the Rover had been airborne after the initial impact before landing with enough force to make a hole in the road.

Pc Holmes said: “In all likelihood, there were a combination of factors contributing to what happened – the damp road, possibly excess speed and possibly harsh braking.”

He said Mr Wootton had been wearing his seat belt.

Coroner Carolyn Hull said: “I find that Brad died from injuries sustained in a road traffic collision and record a verdict of accidental death.

“I’d like to offer my condolences to members of the family.

“Brad was in the prime of his life and had everything to live for, which makes it more tragic.

“Pc Holmes can’t give definite answers but I do hope we have given you some comfort.”

As already happens with speeding drivers, offenders in Lincolnshire could find themselves in the classroom learning about the potential dangers of using hand-held mobiles.

Also, the workshops may be offered to those who flout the law on seatbelts.

A total of 47 people were killed on Lincolnshire’s roads in 2011, compared to 45 the previous year and 52 in 2009.

Figures supplied by Lincolnshire Police show that 1,949 motorists were each fined £60 and awarded three points for mobile phone offences in 2009, compared with 1,834 last year.

And 1,453 people were given £60 fixed penalties last year for not wearing seatbelts, 840 fewer than in the previous year.

Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership spokesman John Siddle said misuse of mobile phones and seatbelts were two of its key targets in 2012.

The partnership is looking to run pilot schemes in the spring ahead of a possible national roll-out.

“We are hoping to pilot the first awareness courses for those drivers caught on mobiles and without seatbelts in April,” he said.

“This would give people an alternative to prosecution, as we have done with speeding, and that’s working.

“People get on the telephone while they’re driving because they think the likelihood of getting caught is worth the risk.

“But they only look at the ‘am I going to get caught?’, not the ‘I will be distracted and crash’ aspect.

“The Government is asking for this and we will provide.

“With the speed seminars, we are seeing the benefits. There’s a greater use of the two-second rule, we are slowing folk down and there’s less unnecessary overtaking.

“The single most effective safety device in the history of motoring is the seatbelt. But there is some confusion over the rules.

“The seat belt exemption for delivery drivers now only applies when travelling 50 metres or less between deliveries or collections.

“And being pregnant with a large bump doesn’t mean you don’t have to wear one, unless there is a certified medical reason.”

Jo Marcon, 65, of Cherry Willingham, near Lincoln, who lost her son Andrew in a crash in 1997, said she supports education but there must also be a change in driving attitudes.

“I think, particularly with mobile phones, seminars would help,” she said.

“But offenders are not going to get points.

“A lot of these people are not first-time offenders – they are first-timers at being caught.

“I think the seminars have to contain something shocking for them to change their ways.

“They have to see the results of what can happen – pictures of a road collision caused by someone on a mobile.

“For a lot of people it’s as if their mobiles are stuck to their hands wherever they go.”

Police were called to King Street, Langtoft, at around 7.40am after a silver Vauxhall Corsa collided with a silver Rover 214.

The driver of the Rover, believed to be a woman from Bourne, died at the scene.

The driver of the Corsa was taken to Peterborough District Hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Lincolnshire Police is appealing for anyone who witnessed the accident contact them on 101.