Push for DUI class to become mandatory
All drink-driving offenders could find themselves being put through a mandatory alcohol education programme — a Throne Speech promise made back in 2011.
The DUI (Driving Under the Influence) Education School is optional for those found to be impaired on the roads, but completing the course can reduce a driving ban by three months.
The 12-hour programme includes a personal risk assessment, information about the medical effects of alcohol, educational videos, and a mandatory session at Alcoholics Anonymous.
Several studies indicate that such courses help to reduce reoffending rates.
Addiction councillor Fiona Elkinson, who runs the DUI programme, contacted Government after the latest string of road deaths and accidents to highlight that the former government promised to make it compulsory.
“Punishment is only one way to deal with the problem, but a multi-pronged approach is needed and education should be a part of that,” Ms Elkinson said.
“The course helps people to change their point of view with regards to drink-driving.
“It helps you to be reflective and consider the safety not only of yourself but everyone else on the road.
“There is a culture of drink-driving in Bermuda — I have had people come through the course who said they would never have considered drink-driving before they moved to the Island.”
Permanent Secretary for Tourism Development and Transport, Francis Richardson, told The Royal Gazette: “The DUI Education School is fully supported by the Ministry of Tourism Development and Transport and we will continue to work with its director and personnel to build on and improve the existing programme.
“The programme is not mandatory but there is a provision in the Road Traffic Act 1947 where the court may make an order to reduce the disqualification period if an offender completes an educational programme.
“The DUI Education School has made a recommendation to our Ministry to make it mandatory for offenders to complete an educational programme and this recommendation is under consideration.
“However, we are mindful that the law provides magistrates discretion, therefore further in-depth consultation with the courts is required.”
When the promise was made in the Throne Speech to make the programme mandatory, the DUI Education School’s founder and director, Ms Cecile Harris, said: “The purpose of the DUI School is to increase participants’ awareness of the effects of substance abuse on themselves and on society. This includes the effects on their families, friends and the broader social network to which they belong.
“Our mission is to decrease the numerous accidents, injuries and deaths resulting from drinking and driving on the roads of Bermuda.”
The course costs $450. It is not yet known whether the fee would remain the same if the programme became mandatory.
A middle-aged female professional recalls when she taken off the road when Police saw her sitting in her car ready to drive home while over the limit.
She completed the DUI Education School Programme and said she was amazed that more people did not know about the service.
“I had never even heard about the programme, I never even knew it existed until I found myself in that situation,” she said. “I did it to get my three months off [the driving ban] but I ended up learning a lot from it. It is a phenomenal programme, it was very enlightening.
“You see stories in the media, you watch television and watch movies so you know the consequences, but to see in it in this context is slightly different.
“You think about what you could have done to someone else — that’s the most important point. People think, ‘if something happens to me that’s one thing, but the risk you are putting other people in is substantial’. It hits home.
“In Bermuda there is a culture to drink in absolute excess, whether you are driving or not, but then to get on a bike or behind a wheel...
“Every segment of the population you see on this programme — there are professionals, people who work in Government, people who drive for a living.
“It is frightening to think of the collective risk we put people in. If you are going to drink either don’t go out, make a plan to get home, or just get a taxi. Just deal with it. When you lose your licence it is mortifying, it is embarrassing and it is a complete inconvenience. Imagine if you have a job where you have to drive or if you have children to pick up and go places with. It also becomes very expensive in the end.
“I absolutely think this course should be mandatory and it should be shown in schools and companies should include it in their wellness programmes. Why don’t more people know about this? You go to other places in the world and it doesn’t even occur to you to drink and drive but in Bermuda it is part of the culture.
“I still think about drink driving but I plan a lot now more and realise I have too much to lose.”
