A community shift on attitudes towards alcohol is needed in Bermuda, the Acting Minister of Social Development and Sport said yesterday.

And a focus must be placed on educating youth on the dangers of drinking.

Lovitta Foggo said: “We cannot simply sit back and hope that our children will get through it.”

She was speaking at a press conference to highlight Alcohol Awareness Month, which will run throughout April.

The theme for this year’s campaign is “Changing Attitudes is not a Rite of Passage.”

Ms Foggo said that statistics from the National School Survey 2015 showed that among middle and senior-level students 52 per cent had tried alcohol, with 18 per cent drinking alcohol in the previous month.

The survey also showed that 10 per cent of students said they had been in a car driven by someone who had consumed alcohol.

Ms Foggo said the figures were of “grave concern” and that it was “imperative that we address them”.

She said the community must “pay close attention” to underage drinking.

Ms Foggo added: “We can accomplish this by ensuring that young people in our lives receive the necessary education and resources to make informed choices when it comes to alcohol.

“We can be an advocate for change.”

Anthony Santucci, chairman of the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said the organisation had completed a report on the best ways to deal with alcohol abuse and misuse in 2008.

The report was based on information collected over a ten-year period, beginning in 1997.

Mr Santucci said that more than 15,000 patients had been admitted to hospital in the decade since the report was completed.

He added: “Recommendations from the report are still being discussed. Decades of discussion and inaction and still the carnage continues on our roads.”

Mr Santucci said the time had long passed for a cultural change on alcohol in Bermuda and called for the adoption of all the recommendations made by the group in its 2008 report.

Recommendations included roadside breath tests and the creation of an alcohol control bureau. He added: “The question is simple: can we afford another two decades of inaction?”

Nandi Outerbridge, a One Bermuda Alliance senator, said that parents must “change the narrative” on youth and alcohol.

She added: “This is not a dialogue about the good old days, but rather a call to the community to come together to refocus and redefine the rites of passage for our young people. If we do nothing, it’s simple: nothing happens.”

Sarah Lagan, a senior reporter at The Royal Gazette, said the paper’s Drive for Change campaign backed alcohol awareness month.

Ms Lagan said: “We are extremely encouraged to see Cada drawing attention to the impact alcohol has on our high road death and injury rates.”

She said that at least 75 per cent of the island’s road fatalities included either alcohol or drugs.

Ms Lagan added that about another 200 people suffered injuries for every death.

She said that since the Drive for Change campaign launched in January it had been “inundated” with comments and letters.

Ms Lagan also encouraged people to fill out the Government survey on public transport and road safety.

Shari-Lynn Pringle, campaign manager for A Piece of the Rock, said that it was her job to “sound like a broken record and repeat hard facts”.

Ms Pringle said that 16-year-old motorcycle riders were the most likely to be involved in a crash.

Riders between the ages of 21 and 25 years old were the most likely to be killed on the roads.

She added: “Males are seven times more likely to die in a road crash than females.

“Black males have a 60 per cent higher risk than other males of death in a road crash.

“It’s my job to sound alarms when something is impacting my community, the black community, at a disproportionate rate than other communities.”

She said the campaign would continue to call for changes including roadside breath tests, stricter enforcement of drink-driving penalties, and the introduction of graduated licensing.