Police could be armed with handheld breathalysers as part of an initiative being explored by the Bermuda Government to curb drink-driving.

Senator Michael Fahy also revealed that a draft Bill for consultation paving the way for a graduated licensing programme for young motorcyclists would be prepared for July.

The Minister for Transport’s comments follow the first screenings of a groundbreaking new documentary probing the “unspoken epidemic” on the island’s roads.

Speaking about graduated licensing, Mr Fahy, who was part of a panel that was formed after last Saturday’s showing of the video A Piece of the Rock, told The Royal Gazette: “We got the information we were looking for from the Road Safety Council and we are working with them to get it approved and then put into legislative provisions.

“It is not just about saying you have to go and complete this programme; you have to have certain things in place to make it legislatively effective.”

Meanwhile, he confirmed that the introduction of handheld breathalysers for officers was being looked at as part of a cross-ministry initiative with the Ministry of National Security and the Bermuda Police Service.

“This would only be used as an evidence-based piece to arrest someone rather than as something that would be available in court,” Mr Fahy added.

One of the major solutions raised during a panel discussion following the screening, which included Senior Magistrate Juan Wolffe, Mr Fahy, Argus CEO Alison Hill, surgeon and road safety expert Joseph Froncioni and EMT Veronica DeSilva, was the introduction of random roadside sobriety testing.

Mr Fahy said that sobriety check points were still being looked at, but acknowledged there had been some “constitutional issues”.

“We are working through those; there are a number of issues that have arisen on a legal basis,” he said.

“We are working through what we can to try and mitigate that and hope to make some progress on this issue very soon. We have had continuous discussions with the Attorney- General’s Chambers, the police service and our ministry to try and navigate a way through what are believed to be constitutional issues with random breath checks.

“Arguments have been made that there has to be probable cause to be able to prevent someone from their freedom of movement. On many occasions people have said that happens in other jurisdictions. The difficulty is that other jurisdictions don’t have a written constitution, that is ours — the UK doesn’t have a written constitution at all and the US has different rules in place for how they manage random breath testing.”

Mr Fahy said that one avenue being explored currently and by the previous government is a system where the location of the police checks is announced publicly with notice that every seventh car or so will be stopped.

“That is something that we may be able to explore further.”

Mr Fahy maintained that Government was continuing to push ahead with plans for speed cameras to be installed across the island.

He said: “We are working feverishly to implement speed cameras. In the Throne Speech [2016] we said we would get speed cameras installed and that will help tremendously. We are developing the internal policies and the Request for Proposals right now.

“I am of the view that if we can get these speed cameras put in place, get the police to have the ability to have the breath before the arrest and we get a graduated licensing programme in place with continued education about drunk driving then that would have a very fast effect on changing people’s mindsets of it.

“There is also potential where we could look at what they have done in other jurisdictions to add a civil liability to bars and clubs that continue to serve people who are absolutely drunk.”