What Penalty is High Enough to Stop Bermuda’s Drinking and Driving?
Stephen Notman · May 28th, 2008
The mad, hot days of summer are fast approaching and there is no doubt that alcohol will feature prominently in the social lives of a significant percentage of our island’s population.
Unfortunately, amidst all the revelry, too many of us choose to ignore the dangers of drinking and driving. According to the police, over 50 percent of road fatalities in the past five years were alcohol related. In 2007 alone, there were 280 arrests for impaired driving – half of which proved positive for alcohol, and a significant number of these alcohol-related arrests were involved in collisions. So far in 2008, over 50 people have been arrested for impaired driving and 60 accidents were reported last week alone.
It is an offence under section 35 of the Road Traffic Act to operate any type of vehicle (including a pedal bike) whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The legal alcohol limit is 80 mgs of alcohol in 100ml of blood.
The police have the authority to stop any driver and request their personal information and it is an offence to refuse to do either. If either stopped or involved in an accident, the Police can arrest you without warrant and require you to submit to a breathalyzer test. It is an offence in and of itself to refuse to do so.
The penalty for a first offence is a mandatory period of 12 months off the road, plus a fine of up to $1000. If a second offence is committed within two years of the first conviction, the penalty increases to $2000 or 18 months off the road or both, increasing to $4000 and/or two years for a third or subsequent offence. In addition there is a mandatory penalty of 10-12 demerit points depending on whether it is a first or subsequent offence.
Under Bermuda law, a person is disqualified from driving when they accumulate 12 demerit points. Demerit points expire after two years. Thus, even with a first drink-driving offence, it is possible to receive more than a year off the road if you have other demerit points remaining on your driving record from previous traffic violations.
Though the penalty may sound onerous enough, the statistics suggest that Bermuda has a drinking problem that outstrips the deterrent effect of the current penalty. Judging by the high incidence of the offence, too many drinkers appear to rationalize their conviction as an opportunity to lose weight and get fit riding a pedal bike instead of driving. Offenders are less put off by the $1,000 fine and demerit points than they are by being ‘named and shamed’ in the local newspapers.
The UK allows a maximum penalty of 5,000 pounds, 6 months in prison and at least 12 months off the road (3 years if convicted twice in 10 years). In the United States, all 50 states adhere to a zero-tolerance policy toward alcohol consumption by persons under the age of 21 and some states impose penalties that far exceed those practiced in Bermuda. In these jurisdictions, where the legal penalties denote the perceived seriousness of the offence, the social consequence of a conviction is also manifestly high.
Here in Bermuda, where some might cynically refer to drinking and driving as our ‘other’ national sport, it is incumbent upon us all to dispel our collective apathy towards the dangers of alcohol and become a more responsible society in this regard. A change in our social perception may well be assisted by an increase in the legislative penalties for alcohol related driving offences.