January 4, 2015

Dear Sir,

It is time to stop talking about doing something and to actually ensure change happens now.

The following is a very simple plan to effect immediate positive change and it can start today:

Government needs to announce the below policy change specifics and instruct the Police to enforce the following, (which I believe is already covered under the law).

1. The current speed limit will be strictly enforced: 35kph is the law and anyone going over 40kph will be stopped and ticketed.

2. Proactive and visible enforcement will start today.

3. For the month of January anyone caught speeding over 40kph will given ONE warning ticket and anyone caught going over 50kph will be issued a real ticket

4. Poor driving habits, inappropriate passing and loud bikes and cars will be ticketed.

5. The courts will be instructed to be hard on violators. No exceptions allowed.

6. The Police need to permanently continue a strong presence on the roads at all times. I suspect there will be a lot more road traffic Police time available immediately with the reduced speeds as there will be an immediate and corresponding drop in accidents to be attended and investigated.

It really is this simple. The laws are already in place and the lawmakers should not be allowed to debate “why not” and stall this.

The majority of Bermudians are law abiding citizens and most are horrified by the poor driving habits and high speeds that have become the norm because there is practically no consistent proactive Police presence.

Our Police have been lulled into a self-defeating malaise where there are too many accidents to attend leaving them the excuse that they cannot be a proactive traffic force. This is the root of the problem and it must be reversed immediately.

Other longer term road traffic laws may need to be addressed and there will need to be some positive advertising campaign initiatives undertaken to reinforce the benefits of our new road behaviour.

A couple of suggestions might be to have first traffic fines paid without court appearances and having unpaid fines resulting in removal of license renewals until fines are paid.

It is time that we actually did something rather than just talk about doing something. I am sure there will be lots of complaining, but everyone will know where they stand and the positive change will be immediate.

Let’s just do it!

RMB

DEVONSHIRE