A crackdown on underage drinking has been applauded by the head of an alcohol awareness campaign.

And CADA chairman Anthony Santucci has also renewed calls for sobriety checkpoints in order to reduce the number of road fatalities on the Island.

Speaking to Hamilton Rotarians ahead of Alcohol Awareness month, Mr Santucci yesterday said that recent amendments to liquor licensing laws — including a requirement to produce photo ID as proof of age — was “a bold step to keep alcohol out of the hands of children and teens”

“This is indeed a positive move forward for Bermuda,” Mr Santucci said.

“It is vitally important that revisions to the Act, such as this, continue to be made.”

Mr Santucci said that, according to research, drinkers were more likely to develop an addiction if they started drinking at an early age.

“Young people in Bermuda may be experimenting with alcohol and drugs at an earlier age than previously suspected — in some cases as young as nine years old,” he said.

“Those who begin drinking alcohol before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol addiction than those who wait until the age of 21.

“Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, cousins, neighbours, as adults we must take personal responsibility for making sure alcohol is less accessible to Bermuda’s young people — the young people for whom we are responsible.

“The role of speaking with children within our sphere of influence about alcohol falls on the shoulders of all responsible adults. It is often a difficult topic to broach and we recommend that several talks take place, not just one big talk.”

Mr Santucci said that parents and guardians could expect some “tough questions” when discussing alcohol with teenagers.

“This is even more reason to hold the conversation and to encourage an open and honest dialogue about a serious issue that if not prevented could have lasting health implications on the child,” he said.

On the subject of sobriety checkpoints, Mr Santucci said CADA was a staunch advocate of the programme because it resulted in “a significant decrease in the number of alcohol related road collisions and road fatalities”. The organisation has already produced flyers outlining how the system could operate in Bermuda.

“As you can see, the programme starts with a well publicised awareness campaign, letting motorists know when the sobriety check point will be set up, for example, on a Friday night at 2.30am,” he said.

“The police will set up the checkpoint and decide beforehand that they will stop every nth car. They can decide to stop every tenth car or every 20th car. Whatever their decision is, each car that falls onto that number will be stopped. This is called non-selective testing because it is an entirely unbiased process with no room for profiling.

Once the checkpoint is set up the driver of every nth vehicle is stopped and the roadside breath test is administered. If the motorist is not over the legal limit of alcohol, within a few minutes they are free to continue on their journey. We like to say ‘You’re Stopped, You Blow, If You’re Good, You Go’.

“However, if the roadside breath test shows at or above a threshold level of alcohol, the person is transported to the police station or to the police command vehicle for the fully calibrated alcohol breathalyser machine test.”

Mr Santucci said that, in order for the initiative to succeed, Government and police would have to support it as they would be the ones to administer it.

“CADA will continue to lobby for this life-saving initiative as it will ensure fewer people are killed on our roads and Bermuda’s roads will become safer for all of us,” he said.

We are a very small community. When one person loses their life in a road traffic crash, we are all impacted. Equally, if someone suffers extensive injuries that may have long-lasting physical, mental and emotional ramifications, we are all affected. In each case, we have lost the knowledge, wisdom and contribution that person would otherwise have made to our society.

“We must continuously remind each other and demonstrate responsible alcohol behaviour. If you and friends get together for dinner and drinks make sure you have a plan in place to get home safely. Your responsibility is to remind others beforehand to put their plan in place.”