Bermuda's chief traffic cop has joined forces with the Road Safety Council in calling for points to be added to licences whenever drivers break road laws.

They said the Island should adopt similar systems to the UK and Canada, where a number of points are added to licences every time a traffic offence is committed.

In Britain, once a licence has accumulated 12 points, the driver loses his licence until such time as the points have run their course.

For example, a speeding offence in Britain can lead to three points being added to a licence for three years.

The more serious the offence, the greater number of points and the longer duration they last for. Drink driving is an automatic disqualification.

Inspector Terry Spencer, who heads up Bermuda Police's traffic unit, said something needed to be done in Bermuda because motorists were not put off by fines.

"People are of the opinion that they value their licence more than they value any fine they have to pay," said Insp. Spencer.

"The current court system does not serve as a deterrent because people are not taken off the road until they reach 70 kph. They can keep getting caught and so long as they don't go beyond that demarcation of 70 kph, then they will keep their licence.

"But there should be an accumulative measure for those persistently bad and dangerous drivers."

The Road Safety Council has called for a points system to be set up in Bermuda to encourage people to be more sensible and responsible on the roads.

Chairman Dr. Joseph Froncioni said it would be human nature for people to notch up a few points, but said as soon as they came dangerously close to reaching the limit, which could, for example, be 12, they would begin to change their ways.

His call comes after nine people have been killed on the roads so far this year - four within a month of each other - and numerous others seriously injured.

"We feel very strongly that there should be a demerit point system, where points are added to the licence for infractions," said Dr. Froncioni.

"If you exceed a certain number of points on your licence, then you can no longer drive any vehicle. It will work as a deterrent, which is what Bermuda needs.

"If you have a speeding violation, then you get points. It will be simple. This is working in many other jurisdictions in various ways and it could work here."

At the moment, a person who appears in court on a traffic offence only faces a fine, unless they are guilty of drink driving or a very serious charge.

Someone may have been convicted four times of speeding offences, but they simply pay a larger fine because of the frequency of their violation, than somebody who has just done it once.

However, those people who do 70 kph or more are usually banned from driving that particular class of vehicle for a set period of time - but they are allowed to continue driving or riding other classes of vehicles.

For example, somebody could be banned from bikes for a year because of speeding, but they can go straight back out and drive a car the same day.

That, according to Insp. Spencer, also had to change.

He added: "If this point system was enacted, I hope they would start disqualifying people from all vehicles, not just the particular type they committed the offence in.

"The only time you get disqualified from all vehicles now is if you are impaired. At the moment, it makes no sense. People are not being punished - they are simply being given an alternative instrument that they could cause even more damage with.

"If someone speeds on a bike and is disqualified they are permitted to drive cars. To me, that is like taking away someone's pistol and giving them a rifle to use, instead."

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, who is on vacation at the moment, told The Royal Gazette that the Transport Ministry was being inundated with ideas from concerned members of the public about how to improve road safety. But he said he did not want to comment on any ideas put forward by anyone, including organised groups, until discussions had been held between the different agencies.

He said: "I'm going to accept and welcome all of the ideas that have been proposed and put them on the plate of the Road Safety Council.

"We will have the Road Safety Council go through them and come up with proposals for our recommendation."

However, he said he believed it was just a matter of time before new legislation was introduced, and said he had been greatly troubled by the number of fatal and serious collisions this year.

He added: "You can be rest assured that we are going to do what ever it takes."