Anti drunk-driving campaigners have welcomed news that arrests for the offence have increased by 51 percent in the past three months compared to last year.

A total of 58 people were detained on suspicion of impaired driving during the period June to September 2009.

In the same period this year, there were 88 arrests made.

Chairman of the CADA campaign Anthony Santucci said: "We congratulate the Bermuda Police Service for their hard work in trying to reduce the number of deaths and collisions on our roads.

"We look forward to a time when the Bermuda Police Service will have a sustained roadside sobriety programme, which has been proven to be successful in other jurisdictions, such as the UK and in Canada.

"The programme would coincide with an ongoing educational and awareness campaign which will go a long way in decreasing the road fatalities caused by alcohol and drugs in Bermuda."

Mr. Santucci added, "We believe that with a weekly check point set up at the same location and at roughly the same time each week, we will be able to get statistics that are meaningful and over time will show a significant reduction in the number of people who drink and then attempt to drive home."

The statistics emerged yesterday, when Police unveiled their third-quarter crime figures.

Asked about the impact of a law-change over the summer that made driving while using a cell phone a crime, Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva revealed there had been a hitch in implementing the ban.

"To be clear, the regulations are awaiting an amendment that needs to come out of the next session of the legislature to enable the Police to actually ticket the offences," he said.

"We're not in a position to be enforcing the legislation as yet."

He did not specify why the amendment was needed and Attorney General Kim Wilson responded to subsequent questions from this newspaper by saying: "I would suggest that you contact the Ministry of Transport who have the remit of this initiative, they would be in a far better position to reply to your enquiries."

The spokeswoman for that Ministry did not reply to e-mails.

Meanwhile, other Police statistics showed that traffic collisions decreased in the third quarter of the year, with 575 crashes in total, compared to 592 during the same period last year.

One of the crashes was fatal, 33 people were seriously injured and 213 people were slightly injured.

According to Mr. DeSilva: "The long term trend of traffic collisions is still decreasing. To evidence this, the most recent ten quarters have averaged 582, compared to 722 for the previous ten quarter period."