Road Sobriety Checkpoints Bill To Be Tabled
[Updated with video] The Road Traffic [Road Sobriety Checkpoints] Amendment Act 2018 will be tabled in the House of Assembly today [June 22], Minister of Transport and Regulatory Affairs Walter Roban said, adding that the “introduction of road sobriety checkpoints is only a small component in our effort to combat the challenges we are facing with road safety. ”
Minister Roban said, “The Bill makes provision for the Senior Magistrate to authorize the police to conduct road sobriety checkpoints to stop all vehicles travelling through an authorized, predetermined location to check whether the driver is impaired. The purpose of these checkpoints is to deter driving after drinking by increasing the perceived risk of arrest.”
The Minister’s full statement follows below:
Mr. Speaker, today I will be tabling the Road Traffic [Road Sobriety Checkpoints] Amendment Act 2018. You will be aware that this government committed to introduce road sobriety checkpoints as part of an overall plan to improve road safety in Bermuda.
The Bill makes provision for the Senior Magistrate to authorize the police to conduct road sobriety checkpoints to stop all vehicles travelling through an authorized, predetermined location to check whether the driver is impaired. The purpose of these checkpoints is to deter driving after drinking by increasing the perceived risk of arrest.Drivers will be aware of an upcoming road sobriety checkpoint by a notice published in the Gazette, and the checkpoints will be highly visible with signage posted alerting drivers on the road of an upcoming checkpoint. I will share more details in my brief when the Bill is before the House.
Mr. Speaker, road safety is essential for all road users. Every year we are faced with the daunting reality of poor riding and driving practices that result in loss of life and many horrific injuries and lifetime disabilities – the vast majority of which are avoidable. This can no longer be tolerated – road safety is paramount in ending this dilemma.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had the privilege of participating in the Bermuda Road Safety Council’s press conference where the Road Safety Officer of the Transport Control Department shared the government’s Road Safety Strategy 2018-2023. The objectives of the strategy are to:
- reduce road collisions by 25%;
- reduce road fatalities by 25%;
- introduce a comprehensive road safety education programme in schools;
- increase public awareness of road safety and road safety issues; and,
- decrease the incidents of reported driving under the influence cases.
Therefore, you will see that the introduction of road sobriety checkpoints is only a small component in our effort to combat the challenges we are facing with road safety. Over the next few weeks, there will be a series of meetings where the full strategy will be shared with the public. More details will be publicised very soon.
In the meanwhile, I urge all residents to drive responsibly and have consideration for the safety of themselves and other road users.
Thank You, Mr. Speaker!
so let me get this right …. we telegraph it to everyone well in advance, tell them what time and where and we expect to catch people? what a joke, an absolute joke that shows this government is just not serious….
We can’t victimize these poor hard done by drunks just trying to have a good time by randomly catching them like speeders. One DUI was fined only $600 last week, less than a so-called ‘due care’ for merely passing a vehicle.
Can you please direct me to where I can see this info for the $800 fine ?
I follow these things and can’t remember that incident .
25%?
Think about folks.
I’ll get back.
Drink/drug drivers endanger innocent people, one day they are going to kill an innocent bystander, your wife, husband or child.
I sincerely hope the new head of police sorts this out. What is proposed here, forward notification of checks is an absolute joke, brainless, who ever came up with this is completely incompetent.
Probably conceived of over a few drinks.
Another money grab if you ask me. Pull “anyone” over! If they feel sufficed; search your vehicle, perhaps house!
I don’t like it (knee jerk) reaction.
Actually they have no other choice
To stop us without resonable cause is against our constitutional right to freedom of movement
This way they can stop you because you have been notified
I just hope they include drug testing because if they don’t then they are discriminating against the drinkers
Really it’s not going to work a waste of manpower which can be better utilized in the fight against the maniacal drivers on our roads
They have been randomly stopping people for drugs for years, unconstitutional, but hey who cares. You better invent a reliable test for drug impairment since the current tests only show a substance to be present in the system. Do you advocate for an allowable amount for ‘drugs’ like we have for the dug alcohol or will it be ‘zero tolerance’?