Bermuda’s politicians need to face “the elephant in the room” and bring in tougher legislation to improve road safety.

Dr Joseph Froncioni, a road safety expert, has advocated for safer driving for “15 to 20 years” and supports more effective deterrents such as sobriety checkpoints and roadside breath tests.

He spoke out after Bermuda Police Service’s Inspector Robert Cardwell, head of the Roads Policing Unit, told The Royal Gazette on Monday that the service was preparing to launch a new Road Safety Strategy.

Campaign groups also said they were pushing for tougher legislation.

“This type of legislation is a hot potato,” Dr Froncioni said. “It’s not something untoward or something I think politicians oppose but not one has stepped up to the plate and done something.

“None of our politicians has been willing to, or wanted to face, the elephant in the room.

“There are tried and tested ways to reduce drinking and driving, such as sobriety checkpoints and roadside breath testing — we need these deterrents.”

Dr Froncioni, an orthopaedic surgeon, is a former chairman of the Road Safety Council and a former board member at CADA, a campaign group for responsible alcohol behaviour.

He believes there has been “a general deterioration in respect for the rules of the road”, and that drinking and driving is only one of a number of problems.

Dr Froncioni said: “There are several major contributing factors to the problems on our roads. One is speed.

“The legal limit is 35kph and most jurisdictions will tolerate ten percent over that. But it’s more than 40 percent more here — the average speed is probably 55kph here and I’ve seen people going over 60kph.

“Speed is out of control, it’s a major contributor to the number and severity of accidents.

“I see people go through stop signs and road lights, not stopping at roundabouts — there’s a definite deterioration.

“We need to protect our young people, we’re putting 16 year olds on motorbikes without proper training, it’s something that doesn’t happen anywhere else.

“Youths are the most at-risk population, young kids have a very poor sense of risk assessment.

“Project Ride just scratches the surface and I’m happy we have the Bermuda Youth Licence but it’s a diluted version and it left out zero alcohol tolerance — that’s a no-brainer.

“It’s as if our politicians are afraid to address these problems, it’s as if we won’t take up these solutions. Bermuda introduced seat belts and people took it up immediately.

“We just don’t seem to have the strength of character to administer that strong measure of sobriety checks.

“We know exactly who is getting injured, we know the age group and we know where, it’s a question of convincing politicians that this problem needs to be addressed.”

The Ministry of Legal Affairs did not respond to a request for comment by press time last night.