Police say the Roads Policing Unit will be brought up to strength in order for the Service to focus on reducing fatalities and poor driving

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Assistant Commissioner Mike Jackman admitted the Roads Policing Unit has not been operating at full strength, but said that will change this year.

The number for a fully-staffed Roads Policing Unit is 21.

He said: "Now that we have additional resources we have started to bring the Roads Policing Unit up to strength so that they can more robustly address road issues.

"In addition, we are changing the internal culture of the Bermuda Police Service. This simply means every officer within the Bermuda Police Service becomes actively involved in the reduction of collisions.

"More officers at Hamilton Police Station, Somerset Police Station and Southside Police Station will be trained to use speed detection devices so that they can actively participate in the Service's quest to reduce collisions and bad road behaviour."

Mr. Jackman explained with 2008 being the worst year for road fatalities since 1998, the service plans to focus on reducing the number of those fatalities.

He said: "This is a clear indicator that we as a community must do things differently. There have been many conversations at various levels identifying what should be done to decrease the collisions on our roads and to reduce the number of fatalities.

"Firstly, the Bermuda Police Service is committed to doing our part in reducing the number of fatalities on Bermuda's roads and there are a number of initiatives that are currently in place to do just that."

Some of the initiatives in the plan include denying criminals the use of the roads by enforcing the law, reducing road casualties, reducing the number of vehicle theft and more robustly targeting impaired driving through media campaigns, roadside testing and enhanced powers to allow random checks.

Mr. Jackman said educating the public is high on the list, along with working closely with the Road Safety Council and CADA, the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention.

The Assistant Commissioner added that even though the Service recognises the need for more officers in Roads Policing, the problem is trying to "juggle" where to put people – especially with the number of murders in 2008.

The Service is looking to change the current legislation to allow officers to stop people even if they aren't suspected to be impaired, Mr. Jackman stated.

Currently, the law only allows officers to stop people if they display signs of impaired driving.

Mr. Jackman said he would also like to have a device in Police cars so Officers could conduct the alco-analyser test so that persons wouldn't have to be dragged to the station for it.

Police road-related stats – 2006 to 2008

Between 2006 and 2008, 42 road traffic fatalities were recorded on Bermuda's roads – 14 in 2006, 11 in 2007 and 17 in 2008.

Here are more statistics from the past three years:

• Black Bermudian males between the ages of 21 and 30 were the primary victims of the fatalities over the three years

Gender

• Males represented 95 percent of those killed, with only two females

Location

• Devonshire recorded eight fatalities, with three on North Shore Road

• Warwick recorded seven fatalities, with five on Middle Road

• Sandys recorded six fatalities

• Pembroke recorded five fatalities.

• North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish recorded four fatalities

• Middle Road, Southampton recorded three fatalities

Collisions statistics to November 30

• 2007 – 2,773

• 2008 – 2,264

Injuries

• 2007 – 1,037

• 2008 – 905