Bermuda are far more likely to be killed on the roads than people in Britain or the United States.

Despite Bermuda's image as a tranquil island where visitors can escape city life, the 1998 road toll of 17 means, per head of population, fatal accidents are much more likely to occur here than in the larger nations.

And Transport Minister Ewart Brown last night admitted that this grave danger existed on local roads.

"The fact that it's more dangerous riding on Bermuda's roads is not a revelation. If you want to say that it's more dangerous to operate a motorised vehicle in Bermuda, that is a fact of life.

"Maybe the statistics will scare some drivers into taking more care.

"But the major concern is not the statistics. One life is more than we ought to lose in a year -- that's what matters.'' He said variables which made Bermuda more dangerous than other places included the nature of the smaller, winding roads and the high percentage of the population who drove motorcycles. "The thing is that a much larger percentage of the population is on wheels here and that is a telling variable. If you have 50 or even 30 percent of the population riding motorcycles that is going to have an effect.'' "Our roads are sometimes difficult to negotiate. This is particularly true to the tourist who doesn't know what's coming next.'' He said the inherent danger on Bermuda's roads was a factor in why no rental cars were available for tourists -- to ensure more deaths were not caused by those unfamiliar with local conditions.

But he warned that statistics could be deceptive, particularly with the relatively small local population.

If Britain -- with its population near 60 million -- had the same high death rate as Bermuda, more than 17,000 people would die in road accidents there each year but inquiries show the true figure falls far short of that number.

The most up-to-date statistics available from Britain's Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions shows there were just 3,599 deaths on the roads there last year.

That is clearly less than Bermuda's rate of 17 deaths so far this year out of roughly 60,000 residents.

And the road fatality rate per head in the US -- with its endless highways and infamous city traffic congestion -- is also much lower than here.

If it suffered Bermuda's traffic death rate, around 74,000 of the 260 million Americans would die each year.

Instead in 1997 the US Department of Transportation recorded 42,000 fatalities -- a lower rate of deaths per capita than has been recorded so far this year in Bermuda.

Dr. Brown also corrected his comments yesterday that one more death would mean a macabre "record'' of traffic fatalities occurring in a single year.

He was only taking into account figures since 1983, he said. The highest number of road deaths in a single year occurred in 1975 when 25 were recorded.

Dr. Ewart Brown Graphic file name: EWWARTB