Implementing roadside sobriety tests and restoring the Junior Road Safety Council are top concerns for the new Bermuda Road Safety Council in the year ahead.

Erica Rance Mill, the group’s new chairwoman, said the BRSC would do “everything we can” to ensure that roadside testing becomes a reality in 2016.

The membership of the council, which faces a tighter budget, was unveiled yesterday with the chairman announcing: “Already this year we have tragically lost four lives as a result of road traffic collisions, and we have seen the results of many more serious road traffic collisions in the media. Any life lost is one too many.”

The council will aim at getting its safety message across to young people, she added, with members of the junior council acting as mentors.

The junior council is now being put together, with local schools tasked with nominating members.

Impaired driving remains a major contributor to accidents, Ms Rance Mill said, and the group will also examine frequent collision spots to cut down on crashes. Rather than have a road-safety week for 2016, the council will focus on the busy holiday periods in which roads are in heavy use: May 24, the National Heroes weekend, Cup Match and the Christmas holidays.