The drive to create a modern motorcycle training programme on the island has come a step closer to its goal.

A proposal has been submitted to the Government by professional racer and riding instructor Antoine Richards, who has trained overseas in graduated licensing programmes of the kind used in the UK, US and Canada.

Mr Richards, who owns the Bermuda Motorcycling Academy, has now set up a course that includes on-the-road experience with instructors.

He said: “It has become culturally ingrained in us that people are hurt or die on the roads, but that absolutely should not be the case on an island of this size; it doesn’t need to be this way.

“With mandatory training, we can change the riding culture so we no longer accept that accidents have to happen.”

The Royal Gazette’s Drive for Change campaign and road safety groups have campaigned for an improved and mandatory training to replace the car park-based Project Ride.

Veteran riding instructors from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in Britain have said Bermuda’s rider training standards are 30 years out of date. Bermuda’s 16-year-olds remain the most likely to be involved in a crash.