A get-tough road policing campaign and the issuance of thousands of tickets has failed to impact the island’s entrenched culture of impaired and reckless driving, police have said.

Chief Inspector Robert Cardwell told The Royal Gazette that over the past three years, Operation Vega, the BPS’s ramped up traffic enforcement initiative, has had no effect on the number of collisions.

Drink-driving stands out as the main factor behind a surge in road offences — Mr Cardwell revealed that recent statistics showed six to 12 crashes per day were recorded on the island’s roads.

“So the enforcement is not related to the collisions,” said Mr Cardwell.

“Our statistics tell us that we will suffer a fatal collision once every 30 days,.

He said the situation was alarming, given that Bermuda has already recorded four road fatalities this year.

“So we are ahead this year from the number that we are normally calculating.”

Mr Cardwell said the BPS were also highly concerned by the rise in serious injury collisions — one every three days.

Such incidents involved someone sustaining a “life-altering” injury.

Mr Cardwell noted that such collisions “don’t get the attention that fatal collisions get”.

He added: “For fatal collisions, we know who is involved, we know who has died … but for serious injury collisions, you don’t tend to hear a lot about them.”

Mr Cardwell urged drivers to obey the law and be responsible on the road.

He said: “Don’t drive drunk — if you’ve been consuming alcohol do not drive.

“The other message that we have is slow down … our roads are far too fast … we’re catching far too many speeds in the 70s and 80s.

“Where are they going at such a speed? You’re rushing to go where?

“We tell people if you’re running late for work, that’s a phone-call to the boss to let them know ‘I’m running a few minutes late’.”

Mr Cardwell said the police had logged impaired driving as a top contributor to the island’s road crisis.

He said: “We are seeing a lot of alcohol-related collisions. Our message is very simple and very clear.

“If you are going to consume alcohol, do not drive, do not drive under any circumstances and have a plan to get home.”

Mr Cardwell cited speeding as another major factor.

He said the police conducted “speed trap” exercises and during one exercise yesterday, 30 motorists were stopped for speeding within an hour — with the top speed being 85km/h. One driver last week was caught speeding at 102km/h.

Mr Cardwell said: “The speeds are far too fast on our roads and they are contributing to the collisions.

“The faster you’re going, the less time you have to react to what’s going on in front of you and you end up crashing.”

Mr Cardwell said the police were also concerned by potholes forcing motorists to be “dodging all round”, resulting in collisions.

However, he said: “We appreciate that situation is getting better. Works and Engineering have really focused on fixing the roads and I think from two months ago to now the roads have much improved.”

He said the police were working to educate the public about bad driving habits and to remind motorists that they were responsible for their actions on the road.

Mr Cardwell said: “If you’re driving down the road and you’re talking on your mobile phone, you’re responsible when you have an accident because you’re distracted talking on the phone.”

He said that although the BPS were short on human resources, “we do our best to front and load our visible policing”.

“We are out there. We are doing the enforcement part of our job. We are still writing a lot of tickets.

“But the ticket-writing is not related to the collisions; the collisions can only be fixed by education.

“And that is for everybody to be aware of their own driving.”

A striking number of cars have overturned in recent high-profile road incidents. Mr Cardwell said various factors had contributed.

In one instance, the driver was speeding, while in a second incident, the driver suffered a medical condition behind the wheel. In a third case, the motorist fell asleep at the wheel.

Mr Cardwell added: “We tell people that it’s not only impaired driving by alcohol. You have to watch out for prescription drugs. Those prescription drugs — they can knock your socks off.”

In terms of penalties, Mr Cardwell suggested that traffic fines could be reviewed.

He said a motorist who was stopped for speeding at 80km/h faces the same $500 fine as someone who was driving at 100km/h.

“Perhaps somebody somewhere needs to look at the fines system,” he added.