Policing in the area of Manse Road and Middle Road in Paget will be stepped up following a spate of accidents, according to Inspector Robert Cardwell.

However, the officer in charge of the Roads Policing Unit said the three incidents that took place within a week may “just be a case of coincidence”.

A truck hit a utility pole on Middle Road at about 10.30am on Thursday, while a taxi and a car collided at the junction on Tuesday night, damaging walls along Middle Road either side of the junction. A van also overturned on that stretch of road at about 1pm on Friday, January 15.

“The recent collisions in this area have the attention of the Roads Policing Unit and we will be working to improve on our visibility in the area coupled with deploying laser speed checking devices in line with our road safety strategy,” Mr Cardwell told The Royal Gazette. But he said that he was uncertain the events “would merit the area being considered a frequent accident spot”.

“It might just be a case of coincidence since the collisions are occurring on a fairly straight stretch of road rather than at tricky junctions.”

He added: “Inattention is a leading cause of collisions. Everyone is encouraged to be sure that when we get behind the wheel or on a bike that we have taken ten seconds out before moving off to be sure we have cleared our heads, are not distracted and that our driving or riding has our full attention.”

Lawrence Scott, the Shadow Minister of Transport, echoed Mr Cardwell’s comments and also urged care, caution and courtesy on the roads at all times.

“Flare-ups” of accidents happen in certain areas for which there “might not be any viable reasons other than unfortunate coincidence”, the Warwick South East MP said.

However, Mr Scott stressed that road safety needs to be addressed Island-wide and is “everybody’s concern”, not just a Bermuda Police Service or Bermuda Road Safety Council problem.

“We, as a country, need to do a better job at implementing safe driving practices,” he said. “For far too long we have relied on just the police and the road-safety strategy and ignored our part as road users and transportation stakeholders.”

Mr Scott said that if everybody did their part, then in conjunction with the efforts of the Bermuda Police Service and the likes of CADA and the Road Safety Council, he would anticipate that the roads would become safer and less of a “national health crisis”. He added that he would “even go as far as to suggest that it would do a small part in reducing the rising cost of healthcare in Bermuda and the cost of living as a whole” because accidents can amount to vast sums of money when insurance costs and pay for first responders are taken into account. Mr Scott also outlined some of his team’s ideas, which he said they will present to the Progressive Labour Party caucus in due course, about how road safety can be improved.

“I would be in favour of the minister bringing legislation to Parliament allowing for roadside sobriety checkpoints in conjunction with roadside sobriety testing,” he said.

He also called for an increased police presence on the roads between the hours of 10pm and 3am, rather than just at peak rush hour, because statistics show that most fatal accidents occur at this time. Another idea under consideration is allowing 16-year-olds to obtain learner permits to drive cars as long as they are accompanied by a driver over the age of 25. Mr Scott said this would ensure that young drivers have experience on the road by the time they get their licence at the age of 18.