Shadow Minister for Transport Lawrence Scott had high praise for this week’s road safety summit and said he would gladly join a task force to be created in the coming weeks to address the Island’s dangerous roads.

Mr Scott said he found the calling of the summit “ironic” given that the day before he had issued a statement calling for the creation of a bipartisan plan for road safety.

Wednesday’s gathering closed with Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell vowing to pull together a coalition for quick measures to rein in dangerous driving.

“We put our collective heads together and at least put the foundation for a way forward,” Mr Scott said. “Now we know the direction we’re going to go. It’s early days, but I would not be opposed to joining the coalition.”

He maintained his support for random sobriety tests, while Mr Crockwell has thus far given approval only to testing at the scene of an incident.

“I appreciate where the minister is going, but everybody at the summit agreed we had to tackle the culture of impaired driving; we need to grab the bull by the horns.

“The catch is that we have to make sure that it is random and doesn’t target any particular demographic. After it was introduced in Australia, they checked and found that 80 to 90 per cent of the general population has been stopped at some point. That’s the type of formula we need.”

Under Section 11 of the Bermuda Constitution, “no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of movement, that is to say, the right to move freely throughout Bermuda”, which has presented technical difficulties for implementing random stops. The same clause has been used in opposition to car clamping.

Mr Scott emphasised that he had not discussed the matter with his party’s caucus, but said that in spite of the constitutional problems raised, the interests of national security or health could be invoked to enforce random stops.

He also voiced his personal support for “a more robust Project Ride” — the youth driver’s education programme, which the summit faulted as an inadequate — in conjunction with the introduction of graduated licensing.

“I especially appreciated what the Police said,” Mr Scott added. “They don’t want to catch you speeding; they want to deter you. They have given a forward-thinking approach in not being punitive but preventive.”