Truck driver arrested after road death No 12
The island’s twelfth road fatality was recorded on Saturday after a two-vehicle collision in Paget.
Police said that shortly after 4pm, officers and emergency medical personnel responded to the scene of a collision, which involved a flatbed truck and a motorcycle at the junction of Harbour Road and Chapel Road in Paget.
The truck was said to be exiting Chapel Road when it collided with the motorcycle, which was heading west along Harbour Road.
The male rider sustained serious head and back injuries while his female pillion passenger suffered minor injuries.
They were taken by ambulance to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where the man succumbed to his injuries.
Police said the male truck driver, who did not appear to have been injured, was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs and detained at Hamilton Police Station.
The scene was being processed by a traffic collision investigator along with forensics personnel.
It comes days after police confirmed that a motorcyclist died in hospital a week after being injured in a crash in Southampton.
• 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, collided 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
• Dylan Taylor, 23, died after colliding with a rental car along South Road, Smith’s, on June 1
• Michael DeSilva, 45, died after colliding with a private car on Middle Road, Sandys, on July 26
• An unnamed motorcyclist was involved in a crash near the junction of Church Road and South Road in Southampton on July 25. He succumbed to his injuries a week later on August 1
• An unnamed motorcyclist was involved in a crash with a flatbed truck at junction of Chapel Road and Harbour Road in Paget on August 8
Jarion Richardson, the Shadow Minister of National Security, Governance and Artificial Intelligence, noted that road traffic collisions in the span of a single day had left “people seriously injured and one person dead”.
“Saturday was not simply another difficult day on Bermuda’s roads,” the One Bermuda Alliance MP said, adding: “Our thoughts are with every family affected, and with the police officers, firefighters, paramedics and hospital staff who were again called upon to deal with the consequences.
“The Government is right to remind drivers and riders about personal responsibility. Every one of us has an obligation to slow down, obey the law, remain alert and never operate a vehicle while impaired. But personal responsibility cannot be the whole of a government road-safety policy.
“Government has responsibilities too: to provide effective laws, sufficient enforcement, functioning public transport, safer infrastructure, modern systems and consequences capable of deterring dangerous behaviour.”
Mr Richardson called for parliamentary support for his Road Traffic and Motor Car (Road Safety and Penalties) Amendment Act 2026, tabled last month in the House of Assembly and awaiting debate.
“The Bill is not the entire solution, and we have never claimed that it is,” he said. “Bermuda’s road-safety problem is complex. But complexity is not an excuse for paralysis, and waiting until every piece of a perfect strategy is ready before taking any meaningful step is simply another form of delay.”
The legislation, which would enable police to carry out roadside sobriety checks without warnings and for the courts to double penalties for bad driving, prompted a warning from Ryan Robinson Perinchief, the Minister of National Security, that it could lead to problems around constitutional and civil liberties.
However, Mr Richardson said at the weekend that the Bill stood to “strengthen enforcement, deterrence and consequences while providing safeguards around police powers”.
“Government can support its principles, improve its details in committee and continue working on the other parts of a comprehensive road-safety strategy at the same time. Those things are not mutually exclusive.”
He added: “After years of warnings, serious injuries, fatalities and repeated announcements, Bermuda does not need another choice between doing everything and doing nothing. We need Government to begin doing the things that can be done now.”
• Anyone with information regarding the fatal crash on Saturday is asked to contact Pc Walter Jackson on 717-0469 or at wjackson@bps.bm
You must be Registered or to post comment or to vote.
