People continue to express their outrage over Bermuda's very serious problem of extremely bad behaviour on our roads. Politicians pass laws governing our behaviour, but for well over two decades, it seems, the vast majority of people continue to flout the law, and very little is done to modify their behaviour.

What is needed now is action from the authorities -- not political jargon. We continue to hear the same old excuses which, I hope, will not be carried into the next century. Let's face it, the loss of 18 lives last year on our roads was, for the most part, the result of general road insanity. As a starter, I suggest that those in power enforce our existing laws. In addition, Government is in a strategic position to lead by setting positive examples. Since Government owns about ten percent of the vehicles, it can slow down traffic significantly by directing its drivers to abide by all the traffic laws, especially speeding. This should include the rescheduling of buses so that they also abide by the speed limit.

Business executives can also direct their drivers to abide by the speed limit.

Service clubs are certainly community minded and am sure will encourage their members to help solve this dreadful problem.

Government must not continue to flout its own laws, but must lead by setting the example by directing its own drivers to slow down.

"Responsible people'' throughout the Island can assist by abiding by both the spirit and letter of the traffic code. At present, this is not being down.

JOSEPH MARSHALL Sandys Parish Use common sense February 4, 1999 Dear Sir, Traffic problems. The Island has so many it is difficult to know where to start. A generalisation would be blatant disregard by many on all the rules of the road and a complete lack of common road sense. There will always be accidents regardless of how hard we try to avoid them but the amount in Bermuda could be drastically reduced if common sense were used more often.

I do hope the owner of white Sabaru J10 17520 is reading this. Whilst waiting at Paget lights on Tuesday February 2, at aprox. 7.40 p.m. you were seen to be tailgating two cars coming from Middle Road. The two lead cars just got through on amber but you went straight through on the `Big Red One'. There was more than sufficient time for you to stop. Had you been using common sense you would have realised that what you did was potentially very dangerous and also against the law. But you got away with it so what the heck!!! Regardless of whatever Government is in power it must be one of their priorities to protect their citizens. They surely have the right to decide if a vehicle is too powerful for the roads. There has been a huge increase in the amount of high performance bikes on the Island. It is beyond my comprehension why importers are allowed to sell such machines. A walk past any showroom will reveal bikes that even though they are 50cc/100cc can comfortably cruise at 60 plus mph. Put these machines in the hands of many youngsters and you are asking for trouble. Government should dictate the guidelines on imports. If a machine arrives at the docks and is not considered acceptable then ship it back immediately.

If high performance machines are to be allowed in, then cannot some form of speed-governing device be fitted by the importers so the machine physically cannot break the speed limit. Since the majority of motorists openly admit to traveling in the 25 to 30 mph speed range then raise the speed limit and govern all vehicles (except emergency) to 30 mph.

All vehicles have to go to TCD yearly, the inspector there can see if the device has been tampered with and if it has then the machine is destroyed -- no questions asked -- and the owner's license is revoked for a period of time.

If some of these comments sound harsh -- remember there are 17 very unhappy families out there.

CONCERNED Paget Challenge to bakers January 28, 1999 Dear Sir, The recent bumping from American Airlines of Maier's bread has forced me to look for a local substitute and, in the process of doing that, I starting thinking about why Bermudian bakers don't/can't/won't make a bread with the same qualities as the Maier's.

I have said in the past that if I could find a local substitute for Maier's bread, I would buy that instead: it has to be fresher, one would assume, and cheaper. I prefer Maier's bread because it freezes well and defrosts well. It has a good texture, is moist and fairly tasty. It makes good sandwiches and excellent toast. It stays fresh for a couple of days after defrosting, so there is no waste. It is probably full of preservatives to make it achieve all these things, but, I guess one can't have everything. Another imported bread, Pepperidge Farm frozen brown bread I often buy, even when Maier's is available, just for a change. It doesn't make good toast, but otherwise if fine.

In looking for a substitute, I look for at least some of the qualities mentioned above, with probably texture, taste and toast-making ability being favoured above others. I did also think that the local bread would be cheaper, so I was quite surprised when buying a loaf from Crow Lane, a smaller loaf than the Maier's, that it was $3.40 (Maier's is usually around $3.20). I know some of the other bakeries' breads are cheaper than this (at least I hope they are), so I can only guess that Crow Lane makes small quantities to account for it's price.

Miles sell some very tasty breads, all warm and delicious from the oven if you pick the right time. However, none of it is locally baked -- it's from Pillsbury and arrives pre-cooked and frozen. It meets some of the requirements, but not all, and it's fairly pricey. MarketPlace make some of their own, though most of it is imported. None of it meets my criteria. The Cake Shop make some nice buns, but I don't know what happens when they make bread...it doesn't taste the same? So what is the problem here? Bermudians make some wonderful cakes, pastries, pies and other goodies. How come we can't make tasty bread? If it's humidity/climate/flour/fat... can't we do something about that? ...experiment with different kinds... find out what works? I can't be the only one to think this -- Maier's bread comes down in container loads and gets sold and eaten. If that's what the customer wants, how come we're not getting it? Maybe if enough of it was made here, it could be sold for a couple of dollars and still make a profit... always the ultimate goal! So here's a challenge to all bakers out there... make a bread that does what Maier's does and let's have a competition to pick the best one (A Toast to the Best Loaf!). We are talking about a basic food here... not Larks' Tongues in Aspic or Jellied Eels or Salmon Mousse or some other uncommon dish. It's good old fashioned dough.

Not only would we have a really good local product, we would be supporting local bakers and retailers. Hopefully it would also cost less, and we would not have to contend with items being bumped, nor any of the other trials and tribulations of importing a staple food.

TRICIA THOMPSON-BROWNE Pembroke Are EMFs harmful? February 2, 1999 Dear Sir, With the controversy surrounding the issue of Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) in the recent erection of a cellular radio tower I would like to point out the following. This subject was raised about seven years ago when it was put to rest as a non issue almost as quickly as it was raised. I don't think at this time anyone can dictate safe or unsafe levels, only magnetic field levels that are unusually high compared to what most of us are exposed to. Most people adopt avoidance to exposure.

On the subject of cellular towers, a recent article by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reads "cellular towers are base stations that cover the area of a cellular network. Most of these towers are between 50 and 200 feet tall with antenna-mounted at the top. These antennas emit radio frequency electromagnetic waves but at a level much lower than those associated with commercial radio and television stations. The radio frequency energy of those antennas radiate has a power level similar to the energy emitted by common household light bulbs. The strength of these electromagnetic fields decreases rapidly with distance from the antennas and the exposure usually occurs hundreds of feet away. In some locations around these facilities, the strength of these fields can decrease to almost undetectable levels at the site property line. Even the peak levels seen are thousands of times lower than the limits set for human exposure to radio frequency EMFs.'' If I can suggest one of the more obvious sources of EMFs are the overhead power lines that run by many of our roads and homes. Perhaps if these lines were buried (another age-old subject) countless people would not have been without power on the coldest weekend of the year to date, perhaps burying the cables would help shield us from the emitted EMFs. Of course there are those among us who would say things like "it's to expensive''. Well as far as I can see we are being charged more per kWh hr. than just about anyone else around -- there must be something in that.

There are now about 100 epidemiological studies currently being done that address the long-term exposure issue, on the subject of High Tension Wire.

Robert B. Goldberg Ph.D. recently wrote: "There is a suggestion which has appeared in many (but not all) studies of children living near power lines that such exposure can approximately double the risk of leukemia and or brain tumours. Evidence is less clear for adults, but it suggests the possibility of similar risks. Risks of breast cancer, depression, and other negative health effects are based on much more limited evidence and are even more speculative.

There is enough information to have concern, but not enough to set exposure standards...'' So perhaps, Mr. Editor, we should be looking for guidelines to indicate what protective measures (if any) would be appropriate or to demonstrate to everyone's satisfaction a mechanism which could explain such an effect of powerline fields.

KL City of Hamilton