The proposal made by the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse also met with opposition from the Progressive Labour Party yesterday.

But the Road Safety Council gave it its full support.

Legislation should be changed to allow for mandatory substance abuse testing of people involved in car or bike accidents, and for random checks, Council chairman Mr. Ramadhin Smith said.

"People are dying and getting severely injured as a result of the combination of substance abuse and riding,'' he said.

"Those proposals would act as a deterrent and I hope people would think twice before getting on a bike or behind the wheel of a car after they have been drinking.'' Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness has called for mandatory substance abuse testing of people involved in road crashes.

But Shadow Health Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome believed both proposals would infringe on people's rights. And he agreed with Police that random checks for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol "will lead to more Police harassment complaints''.

However, Assistant Police Commissioner Mr. Harold Moniz is in favour of changing a section of the Road Traffic Act to allow samples of blood and urine -- not just breath -- to be taken from people involved in accidents.

"We feel there is no need for random testing, because the way the law is now, a Police officer who has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is driving while impaired can make a demand for a breath sample,'' Mr. Moniz said in a statement yesterday.

"The problem lies with Section 35A of the Road Traffic Act. If a portion was amended to say a sample of breath, blood or urine, it would be cleared up.'' Through the hospital, Police would be able to get the evidence they need to prove a person believed to have caused an accident was driving while impaired.

On the suggestion of random drug testing, Police spokesman Sgt. Roseanda Jones said it was not practical and would serve only "to harm the public image of the Police Force''.

"Police will need an expensive machine or kit for drug testing,'' she added.

Mandatory and random substance abuse testing of motorists has been supported by the Road Safety Council and CADA. But Mr. Bascome said: "The proposals have not been looked at thoroughly enough.'' "Random testing gives Police the right to stop anyone and test for drugs and alcohol. Where are we going with this -- are we going to legislate everything? "It probably would be a deterrent. Some will get the message. But what about all those people who are stopped and turn out to be totally innocent?'' One "loophole'' in the proposals, Mr. Bascome said, was that marijuana, for example, stayed in the system for up to eight weeks.

"What if someone had recently smoked marijuana and was tested after being in an accident -- but had not smoked the drug that day? What do we do in cases like that?'' But Mr. Smith said: "I cannot see any caring and thoughtful person objecting to these proposals and I hope this whole issue will not be used as a political football.'' CADA chief Mr. Gordon Johnson, in supporting the Health Minister's call this week, said it should be taken a step further with random testing of motorists.

He said the drug testing could be done by Police via saliva samples or at the hospital through urine and blood samples. And it would only be in cases where Police suspected substance abuse.

Mr. Edness made his proposal in response to a recent rash of road deaths and a Transport Ministry survey which found drunk driving was the reason for the majority of deaths on Bermuda's roads in the last five years.