TAIYUAN - A driver bit the hand of a traffic police officer to avoid an alcohol test which later confirmed he had been drunk driving on Monday in Taiyuan, the capital city of north China's Shanxi province, said local police Wednesday.

The man surnamed Hao is being charged with dangerous driving after on-site breath alcohol detector showed his alcohol level at 102 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood.

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A blood test later showed his alcohol level at 129 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood, exceeding the legal threshold of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, the municipal traffic police said.

On Monday afternoon, an off-road vehicle was spotted breaking traffic rules on Chaoyang Street. A copy of Hao's driver's license showed that his license had expired. When the police officer requested the man's original driver's license, the man got off the car and snatched the copy out of the policeman's hand.

When the policeman asked the driver to take a breath alcohol test after smelling alcohol on him, the man bit the policeman's left hand. Then, when the policeman used an interphone to call for help, the man knocked the interphone to the ground and grabbed the officer by the neck, according to police.

The fight lasted for about 20 minutes before other traffic police arrived.

Hao was the first person to get caught drunk driving in Taiyuan since a newly amended law took effect on Sunday which imposes harsher punishments on drunk drivers.

The newly amended Road Traffic Safety Law states that anyone caught drunk driving will have their driver's license revoked upon conviction, have to wait five years to apply for a new license and face detention for one to six months.