All drivers involved in road accidents should be tested for alcohol and drugs.

That is the view of the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, whose role is to encourage responsible alcohol behaviour.

Anthony Santucci, executive director of CADA, said: “CADA is pushing that all individuals involved in accidents are tested.”

Dr Joseph Froncioni , the orthopaedic surgeon who has been chairman of the Road Safety Council and has been on the board of CADA, supported the drive.

“It should be routine for all accidents,” he said.

The CADA executive said the organisation also wants to see a sobriety testing policy.

“Hopefully, this will change the island’s culture and relationship with alcohol,” he said.

Dr Froncioni backed CADA’s call for sobriety check points.

“If you make it known that every vehicle coming out of Hamilton will be stopped, then rather than catching someone — the point is to deter people in the first place. Deterrence is the name of the game.”

Mr Santucci said some 60 per cent of all fatalities occur between Friday evening and Sunday morning. “It shouldn’t be a surprise that of all the accidents and collisions which occur, some 70 per cent occur between those times. It shouldn’t be a surprise that drugs and alcohol are in their systems.”

He said: “CADA’s initiative is that all individuals are tested for alcohol and drugs.”

The two men spoke out in the wake of a new Bermuda Police Service initiative to tackle serious accidents.

Chief Insp Nicholas Pedro announced on Thursday that Police will be present at several accident hot-spots this weekend, where they believe motorists are most at risk. He said: “We will be using our various social media platforms to provide live feeds about our officers’ locations and information over the weekend, and follow our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds for updated information,” he said.

“Through data analysis, we have found that there are five locations where the majority of serious injury collisions occurred in 2013 and 2014.”

“These are: Middle Road, Warwick, between junctions of Morgan Road (Lindo’s) and as far west as Burnt House Hill, Middle Road, Southampton, between junctions of Lighthouse Road to the vicinity of Five Star Island, North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish, from the junction of Studio Lane (Shelly Bay stretch) to Coney Island Road, South Road, Paget, junctions of Southcote Road (Horizons) to Harvey Road, Somerset Road, Sandys, junctions of Scotts Hill Road to Cambridge Road and East Broadway in Hamilton is also identified as a frequent fatal and serious injury collision spot.

“To this end, members of the motoring public can expect to see our officers in these and other locations raising awareness about the risk of serious injury or death from driving or riding at excessive speed, without due care and attention, or driving or riding while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Officers will be exercising professional judgment.”

Mr Santucci added further ammunition to the argument for improving the accident numbers. He said the cost of traffic accidents to the Bermuda Hospitals Board between 2009 and 2014 was a staggering $37.3 million. “And that’s just the Hospital’s first costs,” explaining that price tag doesn’t include rehabilitation and other medical expenses after the initial injuries are dealt with.

“CADA is pleased that the Police have launched this initiative. We feel the most significant part of the initiative is that it is being published ahead of time — the reason is simply that people will be aware the police are out, throughout the island, specifically in these accident hot spots. We applaud the Police initiative on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to seeing positive change to Bermuda’s relationship with alcohol and drinking and driving,” he said.

Mr Santucci called alcohol a “common denominator” in all accidents, with a likely 60 to 70 per cent of victims having it in their blood.

Dr Francioni provided a second startling statistic, that for every death there are 200 injuries. He said the figures are based on a study conducted between 2003 and 2004, where they looked at every person who sustained an injury or died on the road as the result of an accident.

“The deaths are the tip of the iceberg. You don’t see the part that is submerged — the 200 injuries for every death.

“Of those, some 30 per cent are significant injuries that require treatment — surgery, or that need the attention of a doctor.”

A fraction of the 30 per cent will have a permanent disorder as a result of their injuries — some loss of mobility, brain injury, or some form of paralysis. “The patients who need ongoing therapy are also the really costly ones,” he said.

The actual costs are “very very hard” to estimate, he said. There are infrastructure and ancillary costs, as well as the expenses of the services that are called out when an accident occurs. A Canadian charity of which Dr Froncioni was involved, called SmartRisk, did look at the full costs of road accidents for each province in that country, and he said the findings were “mind boggling.”