November 9, 2014

Dear Sir,

New York City recently lowered the speed limit on all surface roads to 25mph (about 40kph). They did this for safety, and it’s strictly enforced with cameras and radar.

In Bermuda more than 85 per cent of drivers/riders exceed 50kph most of the time. Ten per cent exceed 60kph or faster most of the time. This includes all ages, genders, truck drivers and bus drivers. The latter two categories are even more serious offenders because of the size of their vehicles (it was a truck that hit the pole on Dock Hill) and their longer emergency stopping distances.

Bermuda’s roads cannot support these speeds. For example, if you are pulling out from a side road onto a main road, it is not uncommon for a speeder to suddenly appear around a corner and his/her speed has them upon you in an instant, and annoyed at you. They don’t realise that it was their speed that created the situation. Speed (often in combination with a drug) is a major factor in many, if not most, RTAs.

In a recent year the traffic accident numbers showed that one ambulance and crew are occupied full-time transporting accident victims to the hospital and a fire truck attends many of these. Five times per week one of these is admitted to the hospital, one per month needs to be transported overseas, and many are left in a severely disabled state, or dead. At what cost?

There have been recent repeated public pleas by Government officials and others asking the public to slow down and drive carefully. These proclamations demonstrate complete cynicism, or naivete, or some combination of those. They’re wasting their breath and our time. No one is going to slow down unless there is enforcement of the speed limits.

There are solutions which do not utilise a lot of police manpower. Firstly, anyone causing an accident in which they are at fault should have substantial increases in their auto/bike and health insurance premiums. Why should the rest of us pay increased premiums for their carelessness? Secondly, the police should use speed cameras extensively to enforce the speed limits. This is a low manpower and non-discriminatory technique (which would also be very lucrative) which is used in many other jurisdictions. Have a two-week campaign for public awareness before starting. Deploy one or two real cameras, many decoys, and move them around. Thirdly, truck drivers and bus drivers should get one warning and then their licence suspended.

STREETWALKER