Mr. Valdon Caesar is acting director of the Transport Control Department not the Public Transportation Board as stated in yesterday's front page story about taxi drivers.

No random drug testing for Island's cab drivers By Elizabeth Harvey Despite growing concern, random testing of taxi drivers for drugs and alcohol is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

"Random testing is not on the cards,'' said acting director of the Public Transportation Board Mr. Valdon Caesar. "The question has not been broached and it is not likely to be broached in the future. At the moment there are no plans to test.'' However he added that the licensing board had full powers to suspend or cancel a taxi driver's licence for impaired driving.

"If someone was reported for drunk driving we would certainly take action,'' Mr. Caesar said.

Mr. Caesar added he did not know if taxi drivers were randomly tested in other countries.

In February the Public Transportation Board joined the ranks of companies such as Belco, Esso and Watlington Waterworks when it began random testing for drugs and alcohol among PTB managers and bus drivers.

Police Deputy Commissioner Mr. Michael Mylod this week expressed concern at the high number of weekend arrests for impaired driving.

The arrests came not as a result of a crack-down by Police but because in the cases of the 11 arrests made, drivers had drawn attention to themselves or were involved in accidents, he said.

On Saturday 45-year-old Antonio DeFrias of Hamilton Parish died in a collision between his motor cycle and a taxi on North Shore near Shelly Bay.

The driver of the taxi was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was subsequently released on Police bail.

Bermuda Taxi Owners Union spokesman Mr. Wendell Tucker yesterday claimed he had heard of no proposal to introduce random drug testing among taxi drivers.

"We come under the traffic code like the rest of Bermuda,'' he said.

"There is a strict code of ethics already. It is a matter for the Police.'' He added he had did not know if such testing was carried out in other countries such as the United States or United Kingdom.

Taxi driver Mr. George Scott said the taxi industry as a whole needed to tackle the problem.

"It is something to look into,'' he said yesterday. "Taxis are a public service.

"It is something we should look at as an industry. But we need a voice and we don't have one right now.'' Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess was unavailable for comment yesterday.