Road Safety Council chief Delcina Bean Burrows yesterday backed seatbelt laws for Bermuda.

And the council chairman called for a national injury register so accurate statistics can be compiled to see what other measures could be used to target death and injury on the roads.

Minister of Transport Ewart Brown -- a doctor -- backed the registry idea and welcomed discussion on making the roads safer.

Ms Bean Burrows said: "I do have my own personal view -- I certainly would be in favour of seeing some kind of legislation being passed to make seatbelts compulsory.

"I wouldn't like to circumvent the Council by saying it's something we would push for, but it's certainly something we would look at.

"I think we would support any kind of use of seatbelts and other safety equipment which could prevent injury or death.'' And Ms Bean Burrows -- former Government Road Safety Officer -- said in the meantime, people should voluntarily belt up while travelling in cars.

She added: "Everybody should be voluntarily using the safety features provided in their motor vehicles.'' Ms Bean Burrows was speaking after National Liberal Party leader Charles Jeffers said it was time Government looked at tough news laws to cut into the grim toll of death on the roads.

Mr. Jeffers -- chairman of the Road Safety Council when compulsory crash helmet wearing was introduced in the 70s -- was backed by senior Police officers, also keen to see fewer serious injuries or deaths while driving.

Ms Bean Burrows said: "We welcome his comments -- we feel that this goes along with most recent injury prevention data and it's something we will be looking at very carefully.'' Road Safety chief backs mandatory seatbelts And she added that the previous UBP Government had been considering legislation on seatbelts before they were defeated in last November's General Election.

Ms Bean Burrows said other lifesavers like airbags to cushion the force of a collision were also standard equipment on many cars bought overseas -- but that they were not in general use in cars' specifications for the Bermuda market.

And she added that at one time even seatbelts were removed from cars imported to Bermuda because they were not a legal requirement here.

She said: "I wouldn't want to say yes or no to airbags at the moment.

"We don't have a national injury registry which would allow us to look at injuries in relation to manufactured products like cars.

"That's one of the reasons I want to push a register on to our agenda -- from that we can see what other fail-safe mechanisms need to be introduced.'' And Ms Bean Burrows vowed to use her chairmanship of the Road Safety Council to "up the ante'' on a range of road safety issues -- including drinking and driving.

She said: "Impaired driving has to be our focus to begin with.'' Dr. Brown said: "I was happy to see Mr. Jeffers make that suggestion -- he didn't have to be elected to make a responsible contribution and this Government welcomes his ideas and those of anybody else, whether they are part of the PLP or not.'' He added he also supported an injury register and its usefulness in spotting trends.

Dr. Brown said: "We are a small enough community so we can look at individual accidents and gain enough information to find out exactly what the real trends are.

"It will require the cooperation of the Police, which we believe is forthcoming. With that type of effort we should know a lot more about the real causes of accidents in Bermuda.'' Dr. Ewart Brown Graphic file name: EBROW