first education programme for drunk drivers.

Under the proposal, public service vehicle drivers like bus and taxi operators would enter the programme after being convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Government Road Safety Officer Mrs. Laura Smith said the programme would not replace the punishment administered by Magistrates' Court -- a fine and a year's disqualification for the most common drunk driving convictions.

But it could replace the additional few months' ban from driving public service vehicles that is typically imposed by the Public Service Vehicles Licensing Board.

The proposal is now being considered by the licensing board. The Montrose Substance Abuse Centre at the hospital would run the programme and enthusiastically supports it, centre director Mr. Edward Richardson said.

Mrs. Smith said the council supports the idea of education for everybody who drives under the influence of alcohol.

But public service vehicle drivers are "a logical place to start'' because they drive bigger vehicles and have other people's lives in their hands, she said.

They are also subject to regulation by the quasi-judicial licensing board, she pointed out, which can provide a powerful incentive for those with drunk driving convictions to enter the programme.

A public service vehicle driver needs a driver's licence and an annual permit issued by the board.

After being off the road for a year for drunk driving, the driver will get his private driver's licence back. But he must still apply to the board to get his public service vehicle permit back.

In recent years, the board typically has withheld this permit for another few months.

Almost 3,000 of Bermuda's 35,000 drivers are "off the road'' at any one time.

No separate figures were available for public service vehicle drivers, but Mrs. Smith said the licensing board handles between two and three cases each month.

Under the Council's proposal, drivers could avoid this additional punishment by entering the drunk driver's education programme.

"I think our punishment is good enough,'' Mrs. Smith said. "Treatment and education is not punishment: It's trying to prevent it from happening again.

"...It's doing something more than just taking their licence away. It's alternative action -- and certainly there seems to be some indication that there is a desire in this country now to move in that direction.'' Mrs. Smith said she imagines the programme would last somewhere between six and 12 hours, probably involving more than one session. The idea would be to show the mechanics of how alcohol acts on the body, and how driving is affected.