Police are poised to collect registration numbers of vehicles parked outside pubs and nightclubs in the latest initiative to cut road deaths.

The new work practice will soon be brought in following the recent spate of accidents on the Island that have left three dead in 11 days and brought the total number of fatalities to a staggering nine this year.

It is understood officers will be taking down numbers from vehicles parked outside certain licensed premises and then keeping an eye out for them later on the roads.

"In order that we can achieve an effective blitz we obviously cannot reveal exactly when or where these operations will take place," police spokesman Dwayne Caines told The Royal Gazette.

"But, yes, it is one of the new initiatives we are looking at. It is something the traffic unit are exploring at the moment."

Although the Police would be looking out for vehicles, maybe even following them away from licensed establishments, they would not be stopped at specially set up roadblocks, which Mr Caines revealed the police had found to be "unconstitutional".

But not everyone is convinced that such an initiative is the correct way forward to try and reduce the all too obvious dangers on the Island's roads.

Swizzle Inn manager Jay Correia is one such disbeliever. "Police going around jotting down licence plates isn't the way forward on this," he told The Royal Gazette.

"What next? If they are going to do that, then they should take down numbers when they see people sitting out on their patios having a drink.

"People drink at sporting events, they drink at home, they drink at the beach - not just at bars."

He added that he also believed this sort of policy infringed civil liberties.

"I think that we (bar owners) have a responsibility to act responsibly," he continued.

"We have an obligation to do what we can to stop drink driving taking place. If one of our customers was to walk out completely intoxicated and get on a vehicle and we waved them goodbye, that would be wrong."

Two years ago Police Eastern Division Consultative Committee chairman W.A. (Toppy) Cowen suggested that bar owners be held responsible for accidents caused by customers who get drunk on their premises. Several states in the United States have introduced these laws, leading to multi-million dollar lawsuits being filed against bar owners after customers died after leaving their premises or killed others in road accidents.

But Mr Correia believes that placing legal burdens on bar owners is not the solution. He believes that such a move would unfairly shift the burden of responsibility from the customer to the bar and could lead to huge increases in insurance premiums for bar and club owners.

"I do think bars can do a better job but I don't think you can place legal demands on us. You can't expect us to monitor and breathalyse every customer - because that would be the only way we could protect ourselves," he said.

"The legal drinking age is 18 and18-year-olds are adults and have to take responsibility for their own actions. If they drink and then drive they deserve to get caught - but the bars should not be punished for that.

"But I acknowledge that the roads are crazy and something does need to be done."

Mr Correia, a former Chamber of Commerce bars and restaurants division chairman, believes the best solution is random road blocks, following a system he saw used in Canada called RIDE - Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere.

"Officers would stop every car, or every third car, at, say, 2 a.m. and just poke their head in and say hello. If there was anything untoward then they would deal with it, or if there was no problem just wave the car on its journey." he said.

"You could do that at North Shore, Middle Road, South Shore and for vehicles leaving Hamilton and that would be a step forward.

"It would be better to have blocks at the main arteries rather than just outside individual bars.

"These sort of spot-checks would be a step in the right direction and with the volume of traffic on the Island at that time of night it shouldn't be too hard to bring in."