Drinking and driving could be on the decrease, according to statistics released by Bermuda Police Service yesterday.

Police said they were encouraged by the numbers, but again hammered home the "don't drink and drive" message.

The second quarter report also indicated that drinking and driving is not confined solely to young people, but is fairly evenly spread across all the age brackets.

The number of men being stopped vastly outstripped the number of women being stopped, however statistically the percentage of men and women who failed the test was similar.

Police have cracked down hard on drink-driving and speeding recently. They said that as a result of a zero tolerance policy, 94 people, including two pedal cyclists and a taxi driver, were detained on suspicion of drinking and driving between April and June this year.

During the same period last year 130 people were detained for driving while impaired.

"We notice a drop in the amount of arrests, however we still are concerned with the amount of people that continue to drive whilst drunk," said Police media spokesman Dwayne Caines. "We would like people to drink responsibly and use options that have been provided by our community partners," he said, emphasising the use of designated drivers.

Out of those 94 people stopped, 58 people failed the test. Of those stopped, 85 were male and nine were female. However, five of the women and 53 of the men failed the test.

The youngest driver stopped was just 15 years old. That driver passed the sobriety test. A 73 year old driver failed the test, with 150mgs of alcohol in 100mls of blood.

Of those detained, 23 were involved in road traffic accidents.

Police said that the peak time for drinking and driving appeared to be between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m..

"We want to remind the public to make wise decisions before consuming alcohol," said Mr. Caines. "Use designated drivers or taxis, never get behind the wheel of a vehicle while you are impaired."

Drink-driving statistics

April to June 2002

* 94 people stopped, 58 failed the sobriety test, 19 refused, and 17 passed. 85 were men, with 53 men failing, 16 refusing, and 16 passing.

*Nine were women, with five failing,three refusing, and one passing.

*50 were on bikes, 37 in cars, two in trucks, two on pedal cycles, one in a taxi, one in a boat, and one in a minibus.

*23 were involved in road traffic accidents.

April to June 2001

*130 stopped, with 78 failing the test, 28 refusing the test, and 24 passing the test.