Public Safety Minister David Burch yesterday said he feels “helpless” to stop reckless young drivers putting their lives at risk on Bermuda’s roads.

Increasing numbers of motorcyclists are riding dangerously without thinking about the consequences, Sen. Burch told The Royal Gazette.

He was speaking after Tristan Codrington, 23, became the eighth person to die on Bermuda’s roads in 2007 — keeping the Island on course to record its highest yearly fatalities toll in recent times. Bermuda Road Safety Council and Police have warned the figure could climb to 20 by the end of this year, dwarfing all annual totals from the past two decades. “I get reports before they hit the media and I’m distressed every time,” said Sen. Burch.

“I hear another single life has been wiped out. As Minister of Public Safety, I feel helpless.

“It extends beyond just riding on the road. They don’t fear anything. They don’t value life. It goes back to core values that have nothing to do with road traffic whatsoever.

“Young people are raised without a sense of their own mortality. From a personal point of view, there’s no foundation or faith. “Other people who use the roads are not going to be able to get out the way when they come barrelling down the road.”

Sen. Burch said motorists’ attitudes meant road safety awareness campaigns were not having the desired effect. “It’s pretty frustrating,” he said. “I ride a bike and I see how people ride. I’m not so certain that all the efforts we are employing are going to convince people.

“They don’t even fasten their helmet. It’s no use to them whatsoever. Even in the slightest accident, the helmet will go flying and not provide the protection.

“They should ride with some sense of life preservation. We all need to make a greater effort to ensure that they do.”

He called for parents to take more responsibility.

“We encourage people, young people in particular, that there should be some sense for their own well-being and their own lives,” he said.

“Parents are buying bikes for young people at 16. They need to make sure they are riding them responsibly. They are the ones that are going to mourn. They really must make a great effort in terms of how the young people are conducting themselves.”

Following Mr. Codrington’s death, Bermuda Road Safety Council chairman Christopher Johnson declared the Island was in the midst of an epidemic of fatal accidents.

He called for every member of the public to contact Sen. Burch and the Police Commissioner to insist on the return of the Traffic Division and 24-hour Police presence in every parish.

Responding to this, Sen. Burch said: “Of course that would help. But we can put as many Police officers on the roads as we like, but if they are going to ride like they are, they are going to continue to kill themselves.

“We are talking about a number of factors here that ride on decisions that people are making. I don’t know how you could change that by putting more Police officers on the roads.”

Mr. Codrington, from Sandys, was a pillion passenger on a motorbike which crashed with a car on Mangrove Bay Road, Sandys, last Thursday, at 11.25 p.m. He was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where he died from serious head injuries on Saturday.

Police have not suggested there was any fault on behalf of anyone involved in the accident. All eight people who have died following accidents on Bermuda’s roads this year have been men. Six have been aged between 20 and 30.

Last year, the Island suffered 14 road fatalities. Since 1990, the figure has never been higher than the 18 deaths recorded in 1998.

Efforts to improve awareness of road safety this year include the Road Safety Council’s “Choose Life” campaign, supported by Police, which has encouraged people affected by fatalities to share their experiences with others.