Two Accidents, Two DUI Arrests
A 31-year-old female was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving after crashing her car into a wall early yesterday [Dec 28] morning, and a 31-year-old man was arrested after his car struck a tree yesterday evening.
A Police spokesman said that “Around 3:50am on Tuesday Police attended a report of a single vehicle road traffic collision resulting in injury at the junction of Montpelier Road and Happy Valley Road, in Devonshire. It appears that the car was traveling east along Montpelier Road when the driver a 31 year old Paget woman, lost control and collided with a wall. The driver was taken to KEMH where she was treated for minor injures and subsequently arrested on suspicion of impaired driving. The car received extensive front end damage. Inquires into this incident are underway.”
“Around 11:30pm on Tuesday, Police, attended a reported single vehicle road traffic collision at the junction of Middle Road and Store Hill, in Smith parish. It appears that the car was traveling along Middle Road when the driver a 31 year old Smith parish man lost control and collided with a tree. The driver of the car was uninjured; however the car received moderate front end damage. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of impaired driving. Inquires into this incident are underway.”
There were a total of 11 persons arrested on suspicion of drunk driving over the holiday period. The Bermuda Police Service say they “would like to remind the public that we will be vigilant particularly over the New Year’s weekend and we are advising the motoring public not to drink and drive. Persons found drinking and driving will be arrested and put before the courts.”
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Category: Accidents and fires, All, News
As if the BRSC and CADA did not speak to these issues earlier this month – - Bermuda – WAKE UP – IF YOU DRINK AND DRIVE, THIS WILL ALWAYS BE THE RESULT – - we do not need to lose any life this weekend because you decided to drink and drive – - get a designated driver or stay home – -please!!
CADA needs to do more. I did not get home until FIVE am because I had taxis refusing to stop and take home the 20 drunk people standing on front street. It got to the point where I actually went to the police (parked across from the taxi stand) and said, “I’m just letting you know, that you’ve seen Taxis with lights on pass us, and if anyone here had the keys to a car, they would be driving.” (of course they responded “sorry nothing we can do.”)
Oh and this is after a taxi driver tried to beat my friend with a bat. Maybe I should become a hermit..
@Jays – - – I get that the taxi drivers are a “colorful” bunch – - but why didn’t you or the people you went out with plan out how you were going to get home before? It is possible that the taxi option was your plan – - if so, I would suggest making arrangements with a taxi operator before the night so to eliminate the need to flag down one on the night. It is sad that we do not have late night transportation in this country – I agree – however, we need to tackle the issue of Bermudians wanting the ability to do whatever they want with the “safety” net provided by CADA and/or the government for their drinking habits. Why does the government need to create programs, setup roadside soberity checkpoints, create numerous legislation JUST so that they can drive whenever they feel like it? Why can’t they just NOT drink and drive? seems so simple to me – -
Sureley going out with the plan being to catch a taxi home should be a reasonable thing to do. Making special arrangements with a taxi driver seems to miss the point of having taxis…
@el Bee – - making special arrangements with a taxi driver before going out isn’t special at all in Bermuda – - – many taxi operators have all of their runs throughout the day pre-arranged by the dispatch company or through their personal business contacts – - If I want to be certain to have a way home, I don’t think it is unreasonable to organize it before I go out – - when we travel, we organize the flight details, we organize a rental car, we map out our route to our pre-organized hotel/motel – - – if people want to be safe, I would think they would do what is required – - and that means everything and anything
Unfortunately your extreme use of this “—__-e–” I couldn’t really make myself read everything you said, but I got the jist.
What if I want to leave at 12? What if I want to leave at 3? A taxi driver isn’t going to sit outside and wait for me to be done.
Also your poing about “why should they have to” is moot. Bermudians aren’t going to go “awwwww CADA doesn’t want to do anything more for us then let us know how our livers are getting damaged? That’s ok I’ll stay home tonight.” Sure it’d be great if you could change the entire islands mindset to not do these things, but it’s GOING to happen. Putting programs in place that can prevent people from Drunk Driving is LOGICAL. There shouldn’t even be an argument in place.
So to everyone who thinks nothing should be put in place and we should all just learn to stay home and be boring, you make me angry.
Drinking and driving is a choice. Just like going out and getting wasted is a choice. You can’t make the choice to go out, get wasted and then complain that there weren’t enough taxis to get people home.
I do get your point about there needing to be programs in place to discourage people from drinking and driving. But where is personal responsibility in this? I wouldn’t catch a bus up to the movies in Dockyard and then get mad at PTB because the buses had stopped running by the time the movie got out at 12.30.
Also, I don’t think the taxi drivers are under any obligation to pick up individuals, particularly ones who might end up hurling in their cab or subjecting drivers to obnoxious or potentially violent behaviour.
It’s a personal choice. I wish everybody would stop expecting other people to pick up their slack.
@Jays – I am trying to point out that they (those who do drink and drive) have a level of responsibility in all of this – - they are the first to rant and rave that “government isn’t doing anything” and the “police/CADA/BRSC should do this/that”. That’s where my point lies
In regards to the time you wanted to leave, the taxi wouldn’t be sitting outside all night waiting for you. As a taxi driver myself, if we agreed that I would pick you up at 3am, then I would be outside waiting close to 3 for you – - it is done every weekend in this country. We agree that CADA/BRSC/Govt and all other safty organizations can do more and should put programs in place, but it should not give the public the reason to say “well, i can because they have them in place” – that’s all
I’m obviously the only one that had two friends die this year due to drunk driving.
If they had these programs in place, maybe they would have taken advantage and still be here.
There is no argument. Putting these things in place would prevent drunk driving. Drunk people are DRUNK people. They’re not thinking rationally. I seriously and truely cannot stand people like you guys. Just let it happen. Stop fighting it.
PS; Don’t drive a taxi through Front Street at 330am not wanting to pick up drunk people. Obviously.
At 3:30 am the only thing a taxi driver is looking for is a fare to finish his/her night off. Preferably someone who isn’t so drunk that they will become a problem or vomit in the car.
Would you want to deal with a seriously drunken person at 3:30 am, when you’re tired, and want to go home? If there is a choice the taxi driver will try and pick up the reasonable person not the fall down drunk who will become more trouble than the fare earned.
Here is a thought, perhaps people shouldn’t drink to the extent that they are incapable of functioning in a semi-reasonable manner. Everyone can handle drunk people but some take it to the extreme.
I’m sorry your friends died from drunk driving, truly I am. But, if they were behind the wheel or handle bars, then that surely was a bad choice THEY made.
@Jays – Umm…not not really bredren. Um had some of my closest bonafides die this year/last year so ya not the only one. I agree with you on some of ya points. Its TOO hard to get a taxi in Bermuda when ya really need one PERIOD.
To CADA – you need to rethink ya strategy if you think a 1 x 2 foot sign on the side of the road with CADA on it is gonna deter anybody in bermy…c’mon. who was de bright one with that idea. Don’t even get ya message with dem…next time try harder. smh
@ Jays – That’s very unfortunate that you’ve lost two friends this year to drunk driving. A close family member of mine was killed almost 15 years ago by a drunk driver and not a day goes by that I don’t think about him and wonder where he’d be today.
By your own admission drunk people are not thinking rationally. I sincerely believe that you could issue every drunk person with a pair of ruby slippers they simply had to click the heels together twice and they’d still opt to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. And it has more to do with a false sense of invincibility than it does with how many cabs are available at 3am to pick people up. The reality is that people don’t think that they will become a statistic. The sad truth is that in any given year there are about a dozen who do…
Would more services cut down on the number of people who drive drunk? I’m sure the walls and trees would be grateful although as I said there will always be those who think they are invincible… How about changing the drinking and driving culture that has been cultivated on the island rather than simply enable over-indulgence?
Yeah more cabs might discourage drinking and driving… I think mandatory breathalysers between the hours of say 1 and 4am would nip it in the bud.
The Red Queen had the right idea…
OFF with their Heads!
The Government should cut down all trees and remove all walls immediately
These people should be named and shamed!
I completely agree with real talk! It all leads to personal responsibility! Point Blank!
No matter what is done anywhere, you will never satisfy everyone! That’s life!
I believe the Road Safety visual campaign that was placed in areas all over the island last year which reenacted accidents and used bikes etc. was a good campaign. They were very REAL and prompted motorists (including myself) to slow down and be more aware of the speed limit. I feel this should be a permanent campaign as it ws so real. The only concern I have for this campaign is accidents that may have been caused as a result of motorists slamming breaks to view the aids. Then again if you are doing the speed limit and are a good distance from the vehicle in front of you, and abiding by the rules of the road, there will be no need for accidents. Just a suggestion to CADA/BRSC….please bring this campaign back to the roads. Thank you.
Please taxi drivers are supposed to provide a service! If their light is on then that means that they are available! If the reason that they didn’t stop was because they were on their way to another job than they should have turned their light off! In the next couple of weeks they are going to be crying foul because they are not making any money!!! If one of the Mini Buses were outside taking the people home then they (taxi drivers) would have something to say…
The people that were outside trying to hail a cab because they had celebrated a bit more than others were very responsible in that fact that the chose to NOT drive an drink!! shame on the cabbies!!!!
As someone who survived a drunken driver’s crash, I have no sympathy for drunks in public. I had gone out for a simple errand, and an idiot — whose friends LET him get behind the wheel — ran a stop less than a half-mile from my home and plowed into my left side. I had to be cut from the car. I nearly lost my leg. I was in hospital for close to two months. I am left with permanent damage and now use a cane to walk.
No, I have no sympathy for drunks.
Frankly, if I were a taxi driver, *I* wouldn’t pick up drunks in the middle of the night from a street corner — there’s no way of knowing if they’re malevolent, angry or just plain idiots. And my health and safety comes before a fare any day.
So, stop complaining about taxis not picking you/them up. BOO-HOO. When you go out for an evening and you KNOW you’re going to be drinking — and you haven’t had the sense to make one of your party the NON-drinking designated driver — then stop whinging, get off your hump and PREARRANGE a taxi to pick you up!!! That way, the driver KNOWS who you are and where you’re going — and has the added safety of letting someone HE trusts know where he will be for HIS own safety.
WAKE UP DRUNKS — make the plan when you’re sober and thinking straight so you’re taken care of when you’re not. And if you can’t have enough rational thought to deal with “oh gee — but what if I set it for 1:00am and I’m still having fun and don’t want to leave?” Grow up — you’ll have plenty more times to go out and party again!
BTW — the drunk who nearly killed me? 3-time loser, had permanent loss of his license to operate a vehicle, and no insurance. So all the damage and expense for his stupidity was on MY shoulders.
Nope — no sympathy from me.
Imagine if that person tried to get a taxi, couldn’t, and got behind the wheel of a car. Just as an example. Would you go BOO HOO you idiot you couldn’t get a taxi wah, you should’ve prearranged one? No.
And also, it works both ways with the taxis, if I booked it for 1 and then at 1130 I seriously wanted to go home, that taxi would be pissed off at me and probably wouldn’t do it again. Fair enough there are some nice taxi drivers, but they are rare. Most aren’t nice or forgiving at all.
I’m sorry about your situation but it seems completely ludacris that someone SO angry at everyone wouldn’t be more willing to put deterrents in place.
It isn’t easy. Alcohol is addictive. I write this now without any desire to consume a drop of alcohol. If I have a single drink, my body automatically wants more.
It may be easy to say, “Then don’t drink,” but for everyone that thinks that, I want you to think it when you next have a glass. Alcohol is abundant on this island. The mindset is to drink. As you drink alcohol, you start to lose control. As you lose control, the addiction also grows. Both work together until the person has completely lost themselves.
I’ve read that it is a decision to drive home, but what makes you think that it is one a drunk person makes? It is the body making a decision for you. The mind thinks things like, ‘stop’ and ‘home’ and the body takes control. It’s a survival instinct. (As I sit in the back of a taxi, is it my decision to pass out or vomit?)
This isn’t to justify driving home drunk. It is wrong, dangerous and people die from it. But to have no sympathy for a foolish mistake is why we have the problem that we have now. It seems like the police only catch the drunks that have accidents or the ones that are unlucky. The ratio or ‘drunks who are caught’ to ‘drunks who gate away’ is great. If I can get away with something, then my mentality changes. I’m going to do it again.
Critique my message all you want, but critique does not provide solution. Understand the mind the of a drunk and then you can idealize ways to solve the real issue.
@ The Drunk – Solution – if your gonna drink – leave the car at home!!!
I love my cold beers, but when I know Im gonna have even one – it’s ankle express for me. Does that make me awesome or better than anyone else? No – It makes me a responsible adult! Any excuse is just a cop out.