A physician detailed the arduous work saving the lives of road traffic victims within a strained healthcare system, at the launch of a five-year plan to improve road safety.

The Bermuda Road Safety Council’s plan, titled “Operation Action: Changing Minds, Changing Behaviours”, focuses on public awareness and education, including engagement within schools and businesses aimed at promoting more responsible driving.

At the launch on the steps of City Hall yesterday, Celeste Maycock, consultant emergency physician in the Emergency Room at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, detailed the work from the moment a road victim sustains injuries to the long-term rehabilitative care often needed.

Dr Maycock said: “Each crash sets off a chain reaction, a ripple effect that spreads far beyond the roadside.

“It begins with the emergency medical service. These are the first faces on the scene, working in chaos under pressure, often in dangerous situations.

“They stabilise the injured, manage airways, control bleeding and prepare patients for transport to the hospital.

“Call after call, hour after hour, they carry the weight of every crash.

“Then the doors of the emergency room swing open. When trauma patients arrive, the system strains instantly.

“Priorities are reshuffled and difficult choices are made because when a crash victim comes in, everything else pauses — trauma demands our immediate attention.

“It’s not a Band-Aid and a quick discharge; it’s inserting chest tubes to relieve collapsing lungs, it’s placing breathing tubes to take over for failing airways, it’s resetting bones, it’s stitching deep wounds and stopping bleeding.

“Often it takes a team. X-rays are mobilised, CT scanners are prepped, the blood bank is alerted, surgeons are called in and the entire network shifts focus to save a single life.”

Dr Maycock added that many require intensive care, straining the limited available ICU beds.

“Every bed matters and for those who survive, the journey is far from over. Recovery can take months, sometimes years.

“Then there is the cost — healthcare in Bermuda is expensive. A single serious road traffic injury can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. They ripple outward into higher insurance premiums, higher system strain and ultimately a burden shared by all of us.

“We are talking about a system stretched, we are talking about lives interrupted, we are talking about choices and their consequences — because every crash impacts all of us.”

Altonio Roberts, the chairman of the council, outlined its five-year plan.

He said: “We owe it to ourselves, our families and our community to take decisive action.

“Operation Action is not just a campaign; it’s a call to change the way we think, and the way we behave and interact on our roads. It’s about cultivating a culture of safety, responsibility and respect that becomes ingrained in our daily lives.

“This campaign will focus on targeted education programmes, community education, enforcement of traffic laws and practical interventions designed to reinforce safe practices.

“We will work closely with local schools to educate our youth about road safety from an early age, instilling good habits that will last a lifetime. We will partner with businesses to promote safe driving among employees and customers. We will also utilise media campaigns, social-media outreach and community events such as this to spread awareness and encourage positive behavioural change.”

Mr Roberts said a core component was emphasising the critical need to follow traffic laws and signs.

Na’imah Astwood, the Acting Commissioner of Police, told the gathering that on average, Bermuda experiences a road fatality every 31 days and a serious collision every three to four days.

She said 2025 came with 11 traffic deaths and 115 serious injuries, while the island had already recorded five fatalities and 58 serious injuries in 2026.

Dr Maycock revealed that more than 1,000 crash victims come through the doors of the emergency room at KEMH annually, with 1,253 people in 2023, 1,297 in 2024 and 1,290 last year.

Ms Astwood said: “When we speak about road safety, we are really speaking about choices — personal, in-the-moment choices and when they lapse, there is a role for the police in enforcement.

“Enforcement is not the starting point; it happens when personal responsibility fails, when someone stops thinking of others and makes decisions that place others at risk.”

Owen Darrell, whose ministerial portfolio includes the motorcycle training programme Project Ride, said the Transport Control Department had introduced regulations to better prepare young people for safe road travel.

Mr Darrell added that ridesharing, enabled through the Motor Car Amendment Act, could improve transport options.

He said: “Reports from other jurisdictions suggest that ridesharing is linked to reductions in alcohol-related road accidents, fatalities and incidents of DUI.”