The battle to make Bermuda’s roads safer and change drivers’ attitudes has turned a corner, according to Michael DeSilva, the Commissioner of Police.

Mr DeSilva was speaking as the latest traffic data revealed a drop in all types of road collisions in the first eight months of 2015 compared with the same period last year.

So far this year there have been six fatalities — compared with the nine between January and August in 2014 — while the number of collisions resulting in damage has dropped by nearly 100.

Mr DeSilva told The Royal Gazette that he believed real progress had been made in addressing drivers’ attitudes towards road safety as well as drinking and driving.

But he admitted that a great deal of work still needed to be done in this area.

“From my own experience, the conversations we have had among our team and comments from the public it feels different out there,” Mr DeSilva said.

“We have not arrived, but I feel we have turned a corner.

“At the start of the year we released the road safety strategy. We wanted to raise awareness in the same way we did when we released the gang and violence strategy.

“We wanted to get people having a conversation and talking about what we are going to do differently, and that has happened.

“We have seen the Ministry of Transport do things differently and the Road Safety Council too, while in March police started giving drivers written warnings or ‘Advice to Motorists’ that warned drivers about bad driving behaviour.”

The latest collision statistics released by the Bermuda Police Service show that in the first eight months of this year there have been 404 collisions resulting in damage, 378 resulting in slight injuries and 78 resulting in serious injuries.

In the same period in 2014, there were 493 collisions resulting in damage, 387 resulting in slight injuries and 82 resulting in serious injuries.

Mr DeSilva added: “We have made progress this year.

“This was always going to be changing people’s perception and decision-making.

“It’s not just about one tool or booking everything that moves — that does not have the right impact.

“We have enough anecdotal evidence to suggest there has been a real difference on the roads.”