Rider from Smith’s crash becomes ninth road death of 2026
A man died after the bike he was riding collided with a rental microcar in Smith’s on Monday, police have confirmed.
The Bermuda Police Service said that the rental vehicle was reportedly heading east on South Road while the motorcycle was travelling in the opposite direction shortly before 6pm.
The 23-year-old bike rider appeared to have lost control of the motorcycle as he negotiated a left-hand bend at the junction with Knapton Hill.
The spokesman added: “The motorcycle entered the eastbound lane into the path of the rental car and the two vehicles became involved in a collision.”
The rider sustained serious injuries and emergency medical technicians began life-saving measures at the scene.
The man was taken by ambulance to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He is the ninth person to die on Bermuda’s roads in 2026.
• Adam Tavares, 51, was involved in a crash on January 22 at the junction of Loyal Hill and North Shore Road in Devonshire
• Jahzavier Wilson, 19, collided with a water truck on Verdmont Road near the junction with St Mark’s Road in Smith’s on February 2
• Siena Frankson, 16, a pillion passenger, was thrown from a motorcycle after the rider lost control on Kindley Field Road, St George’s, near Stonecrusher Corner on February 14
• Wilton Woolridge Jr, 52, was involved in a crash at the roundabout near the junction of North Shore Road, Palmetto Road and Barkers Hill on January 31. He succumbed to his injuries on February 18
• An unnamed rider was involved in a collision with a taxi on April 25 on Somerset Road near its junction with West Side Road in Sandys
• Leroy Smith, 43, was involved in a crash on April 30
• An unnamed motorcyclist,73, died after colliding with a bus on Palmetto Road on May 18
• Laquan Thomas, 30, died after a collision between a livery cycle and motorcycle along Malabar Road, on May 19
• An unnamed motorcyclist, 23, died after colliding with a rental car along South Road, Smith’s, on June 1
Police are investigating the crash and anyone with information should call Pc Asaph Rawlins on 717-2123 or e-mail arawlins@bps.bm, or call the main police number, 211.
The Bermuda Road Safety Council offered condolences to the family of the deceased and said that road fatalities were a “deeply concerning trend that demands the attention of our community”.
Na’imah Astwood, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, told a road safety awareness event last month that on average, Bermuda experiences a road fatality every 31 days.
With nine fatalities in 2026, the number of tragedies on the island’s roads is exceeding the trend.
A BRSC statement said yesterday: “Behind every statistic is a person, a family and a future that has been forever changed.
“Road safety is not solely the responsibility of one group, it belongs to all of us — whether you are driving, riding, cycling or walking, every decision made on our roads matters.
“A moment of distraction, excessive speed, impaired driving or a failure to anticipate the actions of others can have irreversible consequences.”
The council encouraged all road users to stay focused, prioritise safety and “slow down, stay alert, put away distractions and look out for one another”.
Its statement concluded: “The council urges all road users to remember that no journey is so urgent that it is worth risking a life.
“Together, through greater care, responsibility and respect on our roads, we can prevent tragedies and make Bermuda’s roads safer for everyone.”
Jarion Richardson, the Shadow Minister of National Security, Governance and Artificial Intelligence, discussed road deaths in the House of Assembly on Friday.
He told MPs: “It is clear that this issue stretches across our community and across our systems.”
Mr Richardson believes some people attribute the crashes to either speed or drink-driving.
He explained: “If it were so simple that it was just speed, then we should have been on top of this — I think it’s more than that.”
Mr Richardson said expediting island-wide speed cameras, earmarked to be operational in September, not having to announce roadside sobriety checks, improving the ticketing and court-processing systems, consulting more with coroners after road deaths and updating police statistics could improve the issue.
Mr Richardson, a former police officer, told The Royal Gazette that Bermuda’s driving culture has worsened, especially among motorcycle riders, since he worked in the service.
Speaking on the issue of road safety more generally, he said: “[Motorcycles] are not the extent of the problem, even cars now are driving in a reckless manner, oftentimes overtaking when they don’t have sight of oncoming traffic. We’re seeing overtaking on hills where we didn’t see them before.
“We’ve allowed larger cars on our roads but our roads did not increase in size, so the fact is we’ve made our roads more and more dangerous.”
He added that drink-driving was “culturally acceptable” in Bermuda when he was a police officer and believes it is still not as widely condemned on the island as it is in Britain or Canada.
Mr Richardson said: “Our public transport doesn’t run late enough and what we’re seeing is when people are unable to secure taxis, they’re choosing to take their vehicles home.
“They don’t know how drunk they are, they’re just riding the line of how drunk and they’re taking that chance.
“Identifying the issue as speed and drink-driving isn’t the same as providing solutions, there needs to be comprehensive solutions across all these things because a lot of these things overlap.”
• UPDATE: this article has been amended with comments from the Bermuda Road Safety Council and the Shadow Minister of National Security
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