Another weekend road death - this one occurring at the end of Road Safety Week - should again drive home the problems the Island faces on the roads.

If the current rate of road deaths continues, Bermuda will see 24 people die in 2008, a death toll unseen in decades.

And pleas to the public, awareness campaigns and the like seem to make no difference.

Like others, this newspaper offers condolences to the family of Larry Thomas. His family is now mourning the loss of a loved one - how many more funerals must this community endure before it says enough is enough?

MP Michael Scott has joined the voices calling for sanity on the roads, but one wonders whether his voice will be heard. His call for the implementation of long-called for speed cameras will, we hope be listened to.

Premier Dr. Ewart Brown has also reiterated that road safety will only come when people make it a personal choice, and he is right about this, at least to an extent.

But there is another view, and that is that the laws Bermuda have simply not being enforced. There was a time when Bermuda had an active, and it must be said, feared Police traffic unit. But these days it is rare to see speed traps and the like. The Police do undertake occasional crackdowns, but a constant presence, with heightened penalties, is needed if Bermuda is to stop the carnage.

Speed cameras and other traffic calming measures would be part of this; we need to make it happen.

Welcome support

One current and one former Government MP have spoken out today in opposition to Government's decision not to advertise in this newspaper; we welcome the courageous stands of Reginald Burrows and Ashfield DeVent and hope that other MPs who feel similarly will take the same position.

We especially note that they feel this newspaper has "improved" its coverage in recent years. This newspaper and its staff work exceptionally hard to provide fair and accurate information to enable its readers to make informed decisions.

But fairness does not mean that this newspaper, or any part of the media, should pull its punches. When people wish to criticise or praise the Government, they should have a voice, and the same goes for the editorials that appear on this page.

We also reiterate that we do not believe Government has an obligation to advertise in this newspaper. But we do believe that it provides the most effective way of reaching the largest number of people in Bermuda and have waited in vain for the Government to produce reliable statistics that prove otherwise. The lack of those statistics is the reason why this newspaper believes it is being singled out for financial punishment; there is no other rational explanation.

We also believe that refusal to advertise in a given medium for political reasons is a form of discrimination. We are not alone in this. The Declaration of Chapultepec, which has been signed by 27 leaders of countries and overseas territories in the America, although not Bermuda, specifically states: "…the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists."

At the risk of putting words in their mouths, Mr. Burrows and Mr. DeVent appear to recognise this. The community should too.