The mother of a teenager who was killed in a bike accident has suggested curfews and restrictions be introduced in order to keep young people safe on the roads.

Carolann Tacklyn said there was not a day that went by when she did not think about her beloved 18-year-old Darren Minors, but said the rash of collisions in recent weeks had compounded her pain.

Darren was killed three years ago this month as he rode with a friend along North Shore in Hamilton Parish.

It is unclear whether he or his friend was operating the vehicle, but Darren was thrown from the bike into a wall, suffering severe head trauma. He was pronounced dead a few days later. His friend suffered minor injuries.

Ms Tacklyn, of Warwick, said her fear for other young people on bikes had not subsided since then, and she now often found herself shouting to young people on bikes to slow down.

And as for her 14-year-old son ever owning a bike, that is something she hopes will never happen.

"When I'm in my car and I see these children on their bikes, it sends shivers down my spine," said Ms Tacklyn. "I want to stop them and pull them off their bikes. I even wind down my window and flag them down, telling them to slow down. I can see accidents going to happen a few cars down the road.

"I think a lot of young people don't really think about the consequences, and they don't care if they die.

"But I would a suggest a curfew and other restrictions, because if they won't be responsible then we will have to curtail them."

Ms Tacklyn said she was interested in seeing a graduated licence scheme introduced, where young people had to earn a full licence over a period of time with good road behaviour before being allowed the same rights as everyone else.

That could involve not allowing them to take passengers, banning them from riding at night, and ensuring that they remain within the speed limits for a year or so.

However, she said she also believed that 16 was far too young for someone to own and ride a bike.

"Our young people need more education before they own a bike, and the bike test needs to be more involved and intensive for everyone, not just locals, but tourists, too," she added.

"But I also think that children are not mature enough at 16 to have a bike. The minimum age should be increased to 18.

"I know some parents and young people will not agree with what I'm saying, but we have to do something to keep our children safe. We need to do something about the careless riding."

Ms Tacklyn said she had been enormously helped since Darren's death by the fact that her son had been an organ donator.

She said five people, including one of her cousins, had received Darren's organs, so his passing had not been in vain.

But she said she still wondered what her son would have been doing now if he had been alive, and if he would have been at college, as he planned.

"Does it get easier? Yes and no," said Ms Tacklyn, who has two other sons.

"Sometimes I'm okay and then when I think about him in depth, it really is hard and I think about what his life would have been like now.

"At the time he died, he had been very focussed about what he wanted to do for about a year. He was at Bermuda College, was working with me at Cable and Wireless and then also working at MarketPlace.

"He was in the process of looking at colleges in Canada for when he finished at Bermuda College. But all of that is gone now because of that collision. "The consequences were huge."

The mother said she was in Spain on holiday when she found out her son had been involved in a collision and was very poorly in intensive care.

But she said she was frantically able to get a flight straight back to Bermuda to spend the last days with Darren before he was pronounced dead.

"I was glad I was able to get here in time so at least I could spend time with him," she said.

"I was able to rub his legs and talk to him and say goodbye, and that meant a lot, but he was gone a few days later."

Ms Tacklyn said if young people could not find it within themselves to drive safely for their own sakes, then they should think about the affects road deaths and injuries have on families and friends.

"I just ask the young ones to be more mindful of their families and friends, and other people on the roads, especially if they are towing people on the back of bikes," she added.

"There are lives at stake and they have to be more responsible. If they are not mature and sensible enough to have bikes, then they should not have them at all. It is simple."

The grieving mother said she hoped that at least one person took heed and changed their ways on the roads as a result of stories about carnage that has gone so far.

And as for her son Darren, who she missed immensely, she said she was just glad he had managed to make other people's lives better as a result of his premature death.

"I see Darren as a butterfly now," she added.

"He is a butterfly that has sprung from the cocoon."