Road traffic accidents have a real cost that goes far beyond the suffering of victims and their families.

There is a dollar and cent cost to the economy that amounts to between one and two percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of each country, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Bermuda had a GDP - the market value of all goods and services - of $3.5 billion in 2001, meaning the bill for road accidents if the Island followed the WHO trend would be a massive $35-70 million each year.

The figure is arrived at when calculations are made based on insurance premiums, loss of production to the economy, health care, police and emergency services, days off work and over-time, among other things.

William Madeiros, the senior vice-president of Colonial Insurance in Bermuda believes the annual cost to the insurance industry alone is well over $10 million each year.

On top of that, there are contributions made by all the insurers to the Motor Insurers Fund, which covers drivers caught in accidents who don't have cover.

"The cost to the insurance industry must be well in excess of $10m each year," Mr. Madeiros told The Royal Gazette.

"Then you get the big ones of head injuries and people who need intensive care treatment which takes the number off the Richter scale.

"There is no question whatsoever that if the driving situation dramatically improved in Bermuda, people would not pay more for their insurance and they would hopefully pay less. "I would love to be able to charge less than my competitors, but the underlying numbers are so weak.

"Clients are paying more than they should, without question, and they are not getting bang for their buck.

"Recently, we have not seen a bumper crop of claims, but it is the severity of the injuries that is off the scale.

"These are measurable costs, but there are also immeasurable costs, such as the inconvenience and aggravation and what it is doing to our nerves. What does this do to people living in what is supposed to be our ideal little Island?"

Harry Wilken, a director and treasurer of Chamber of Commerce, said: "We don't see this as a cost to individual businesses but there is definitely a cost to the economy in lost days, in people doubling up and in businesses delaying projects.

"We have enough increasing costs as it is in medical insurance without pushing it up more through further needless road accidents.

"It also has a detrimental effect on one of our key industries, tourism, where visitors rely on safe roads. And this is an industry which has enough challenges as it is."