Road carnage has increased at an alarming rate this year with nine deaths already compared to 13 last year. Each tragedy sparks handwringing and rhetoric but what are the facts behind the alarming trend? Charity BermudaSMARTRISK decided to look more deeply at the accident figures and have come up with some startling information they hope will spur some policy changes. Here they share their in-depth findings with The Royal Gazette.

Road injuries suffered by Bermuda residents have increased by 67 percent in ten years while 16 is the peak age for accidents, according to figures from a major new study. And an average of five people are hurt while driving daily while tourists are twice as likely to die on the roads than residents.

These are some of the key findings in a study of traffic Injuries in Bermuda conducted from 2003-2004 by charity BermudaSMARTRISK.

Using 2003 and 2004 data on road traffic injury cases presenting at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) Emergency Room, the study looked at the demographics and severity of road injuries for residents and tourists.

The 24-month project found that men are hurt in two thirds of the accidents involving residents while only 42 percent of tourists suffering road injury are male with the bulk being female.

Of the 3,673 road traffic injuries during the study 30 percent were serious.

Eighty three percent of accident injury victims are moped riders with ten percent being car drivers. Just three percent of accidents involve pedestrians and three percent involve pedal cyclists.

Some of the key findings of the study are:

¦ The average age of resident fatalities was 24 compared to 48 for tourists

¦ Nearly three quarters of the fatalities had sustained major head injuries

¦ Peak injury times for residents are during commutes to and from work and on weekends

¦ Peak injury time for tourists is mid-afternoon

¦ The majority of injured residents are male while the majority of injured tourists are women

¦ Tourists are 3.2 times more likely to be injured than residents

¦ Female tourists are 6.3 times more likely to get hurt than resident females

¦ Between 1993 and 2004, the incidence of road injuries sustained by residents increased by 67 percent

¦ An average of five people per day are injured on our roads

¦ The greatest risk of road injury occurs at age 16

¦ From age 16, it takes approximately five years for the injury risk to decrease to the population average

Carried out by the founder of BermudaSMARTRISK, Dr. Joseph Froncioni along with co-authors, Jennifer Attride-Stirling and Marcelo Ramella, this study is the largest of its kind in Bermuda. And the charity, which has shared its finding

These are some of the key findings in a study of traffic Injuries in Bermuda conducted from 2003-2004 by charity BermudaSMARTRISK.

Using 2003 and 2004 data on road traffic injury cases presenting at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) Emergency Room, the study looked at the demographics and severity of road injuries for residents and tourists.

The 24-month project found that men are hurt in two thirds of the accidents involving residents while only 42 percent of tourists suffering road injury are male with the bulk being female.

Of the 3,673 road traffic injuries during the study 30 percent were serious.

Eighty three percent of accident injury victims are moped riders with ten percent being car drivers. Just three percent of accidents involve pedestrians and three percent involve pedal cyclists.

Some of the key findings of the study are:

¦ The average age of resident fatalities was 24 compared to 48 for tourists

¦ Nearly three quarters of the fatalities had sustained major head injuries

¦ Peak injury times for residents are during commutes to and from work and on weekends

¦ Peak injury time for tourists is mid-afternoon

¦ The majority of injured residents are male while the majority of injured tourists are women

¦ Tourists are 3.2 times more likely to be injured than residents

¦ Female tourists are 6.3 times more likely to get hurt than resident females

¦ Between 1993 and 2004, the incidence of road injuries sustained by residents increased by 67 percent

¦ An average of five people per day are injured on our roads

¦ The greatest risk of road injury occurs at age 16

¦ From age 16, it takes approximately five years for the injury risk to decrease to the population average

Young riders

Teen bike riding might be a rite of passage but all too often it risks ending up with the last rites as young riders wind up in hospital after a nasty smash.

The statistics are clear, 16 is the most vulnerable age for road injury, but BermudaSMARTRISK believe much better rider instruction could reduce this figure. The charity is calling for:

¦ Introduction of mandatory high-quality motorbike instruction that meets international standards and is part of the high school curriculum

¦ Graduated licensing

¦ Encouraging the establishment of a high quality motorcycle riding school in the private sector.

Dr. Froncioni said graduated licensing is nearly the norm in most developed countries.

You don't get a full licence, you get a provisional licence. It decreases mortality by about 30 percent."

He admits it's a hard concept to sell on an island where teenagers yearn to get on a bike but he added: "The iron is hot – we have had enough carnage."

And he believes that natural teenage eagerness to ride a scooter can actually be channelled to great benefit.

The way graduated licensing works is after completing a proper driving course the 'L' plates remain on the bike, there's no driving in the dark, no pillion passengers and zero tolerance for traffic infractions or alcohol.

After six or 12 months, the driver has been psychologically moulded to play by the rules. "They want a bike so much they will abide by this to get their bikes. You are changing their souls and their attitude to driving – you spend two years doing the right thing, some of it sticks."

Dr. Froncioni said it has always amazed him that Bermuda does not have a motorbike training school and he said too many driving instructors concentrated on getting people to pass the test rather than making them better drivers. Driver's education here is abysmal."

He said driver's education had been introduced into the high school curriculum in some Canadian provinces and overseas it is normally about 40 hours.

Bermuda has Project Ride, which teaches teens how to handle a bike, but Dr. Froncioni said it was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Road Safety Council have already submitted proposals to Government for a graduated licensing scheme which would see teens aged 16-18 ordered off the roads by 11 p.m. with pillion passengers banned for the first two years.

Riders still on the roads after the night-time deadline could be fined and risk having their bikes impounded.

The RSC hope the scheme will begin this year with a modified version for guest workers.

Currently, students take part in the 12-hour Project Ride course but the new programme will likely be a 25-hour cycle training programme, which will include on-road testing where students will be put in real life situations.

While teens don't form the majority of road fatalities the RSC believe the seeds for dangerous driving are planted between the ages of 16 and 20.

Speed and drink driving

Bermuda's roads are risky enough but adding extra booze and speed only escalates the carnage.Recommendations to reduce the daily toll include:

An increased Police presencen

Well-publicised sobriety checks at peak injury times

Mandatory breathalyser and/or blood/urine testing for all persons involved in a road crash

Increased accessibility to public transport and taxis during peak injury times

Speed cameras

Dr. Froncioni said drink was a major factor in road accidents. "Ask any nurse or doctor the patients smell of alcohol."

But doctors and nurses are forbidden from drawing blood for non-medical reasons such as for use in criminal proceedings but he hopes this can change so all participants in any crash will get tested.

"It's a complex issue constitutionally but it's been ironed out in most other places," he said.

A blanket testing approach would also eliminate any fears about racial profiling, said Dr. Froncioni, who lamented there was a cultural acceptance of drunk driving in Bermuda.

He suggested Police dragnets should be set up at every exit in Hamilton on Friday to test drivers for sobriety.

The major long-term effect would be to deter drink driving rather than to catch and convict people.

Since the Tumin report, which studied Bermuda's social ills, the number of Police in the traffic division had been slashed after claims of racial harassment.

But Dr. Froncioni said the pendulum had gone too far the other way with little monitoring of what was going on everyday on Bermuda's roads. "You just don't see Police."

He said working speed cameras would also be a major deterrent to risky behaviour.

But little progress has been made despite a law allowing them being passed in February 2002.

Government could set an example by fitting buses with devices which stopped them from exceeding the speed limit, said Dr. Froncioni, who resigned as Road Safety Council chairman in 2005to work on the intensive BermudaSMARTRISK study.

The charity also suggested other measures to reduce the spiralling number of resident injuries.

They include:

Increased spending on public service announcementsn

Adopting "Broken windows" approach ("Start by fixing the small things and the big things will follow.")

Mandate adherence to traffic laws by Government vehicles, especially PTB

Increased penalties for driving drun

Full implementation of the demerit point system

Encouraging the importation of smaller and more environmentally-friendly vehicles

Tourists

Bermuda's visitors come for its sunshine and beaches but sadly some go home in coffins after a deadly encounter on treacherous roads

While some view scooters as all part of the authentic holiday experience, Dr. Froncioni believes this Island should move the times on the back of statistics which show tourists made up 24 percent of all road fatalities in the study.

Dr. Froncioni said motorbikes were the most dangerous form of transport and the study showed they were responsible for 65 percent of deaths.

But he said there were lots of small, safe alternative forms of transport out there.

"You cannot keep doing the same old, same old. I guarantee there are 50 companies out there that will submit suggestions or prototypes."

Tourists needed a much more stable vehicle, said Dr. Froncioni, who said cycle livery companies sometimes sent people out on bikes they clearly couldn't handle.

"At the moment the only characteristic you need to hire a bike is a functioning credit card."

The Road Safety Council has given serious consideration to providing alternative four-wheel and three-wheel vehicles to tourists and it's thought most livery cycle companies are on board with the idea.

And Dr. Froncioni said it was time to push ahead. Other ideas include:

Reduced or free public transportation for touristsn

Increased and standardised point-of-sale rider instruction although Dr. Froncioni said there exists little evidence that this would diminish injury risk as it took up to five years to get really comfortable with a bike

Mandatory risk awareness and client selection instruction for cycle livery employees

Head injuries

Head injuries are the cause of 71 percent of fatalities yet still bike riders wear helmets unbuckled and car drivers don't buckle up.Dr. Froncioni said wearing a helmet without a strap was similar to not wearing one, with Police used to finding unstrapped helmets 100 yards away from a crash scene.

He said most road injuries were "double impact" meaning the second impact could occur without the helmet.

"The narrow roads here are completely unforgiving, bordered with deadly objects. You make one mistake and you hit the wall.

"Yet Ihave witnessed Police ticket people for speeding who didn't have a helmet fastened. "

So BermudaSMARTRISK are calling on Police to clamp down on unfastened helmets as well as fully implement the Helmet Standards Amendment.

Helmets are supposed to comply with at least one of four safety standards including those applying in the US, the UK or the European Union.

But Dr. Froncioni said it wasn't being enforced by anybody Police, TCD or Customs. The only clampdown appeared to be a one-off at a livery company which was forced to ditch plastic hats.

About BermudaSMARTRISK

BermudaSMARTRISK was founded by Dr. Froncioni in 2001 in order to address Bermuda's growing road injury problem.

The registered charity is the first international chapter of the acclaimed Canadian non-profit organisation, SMARTRISK.

Like its parent organisation, BermudaSMARTRISK promotes a positive approach towards injury prevention.

Dr. Froncioni said:"Targeting young people in particular, we feel that this positive approach is met with much more acceptance than the traditional injunctions and admonitions.

"The BermudaSMARTRISK philosophy accepts that risk is part of normal life and in a sense is the 'spice of life'. Life devoid of risk would indeed be bland."

The philosophy encourages people to distinguish smart risk from stupid risk and helps them establish a line of risk they will not cross.

To convey the smart risk theme, clear, simple, positive messages have been developed that not only acknowledge risk but also offer tools to navigate that risk. The five key messages are:

Buckle up

Look firstn Wear the gear

Get trained n

Drive sober