A senior who retires this week after almost 50 years working with the police service, mostly documenting traffic incidents on the island, drew on her wealth of experience to urge caution on Bermuda’s roads.

Brenda Johnson also said residents should pay attention to information about the loss of life through vehicular accidents and be vigilant as motorists.

She offered the advice as she wraps up 49½ years working for the Bermuda Police Service, most of which she has served in their traffic records department.

A stickler for detail, Ms Johnson served beyond the call of her duties to contact victims of road crashes — locals and non-Bermudians — including the families of people who died.

She urged motorists: “You’ve got to have eyes at the back, on the side and at the front.

“I just want people to slow down, take their time and they’ll get to where they’re going.”

Ms Johnson said she frequently passes the junction of Tee Street and Middle Road, where she observes motorists seemingly in a hurry.

She explained: “My point is, when people come to that junction [from Tee Street] they do not wait until the right side [on Middle Road] is clear.

“We always see people get killed on the road and the next evening they’re driving like the loss of life doesn’t mean anything.”

Surrounded by colleagues, Ms Johnson recalled the morning in December 1975, two weeks after she returned to the island from studying overseas, when she went to Hamilton in search of work.

“My father said I need to go get a job and I went to town and I came across the government employment agency,” she said.

Armed with her diploma in bookkeeping, she applied for the post of a clerk at the BPS.

The 20-year-old later received a call when she was told to visit the headquarters of the police service at Prospect for an interview.

She started out as a clerk in the traffic department at Christmastime that year and, from then on, would diligently complete her tasks including documenting motorists who were ticketed for speeding and parking offences.

In those early days, she also had the tedious duty of checking records each Monday for motorists who were disqualified from driving.

After five years at the traffic department, she moved to the garage unit of the BPS, a new beginning that she said was filled with “enlightening” tasks.

After 17 years at the garage, she took on a post in the police finance department.

Then, in August 1996, days after she came off a holiday cruise, the traffic records department advertised for a clerk. She applied and got the job.

It was her second stint in the department, and she has been there ever since.

Ms Johnson, who will celebrate her 70th birthday on Tuesday, recalled adapting to the use of technology in the 1980s.

During the transformation, she attended the Bermuda College to study computer courses, including Microsoft Excel.

She said: “I used to go to night classes and I was at the garage then and we had to put all the parts data and location on the computer.

“It was different; I like to learn different things and I really enjoyed it because it was something new.”

Ms Johnson said working at the traffic records department had been a “touching” experience in many instances but she made the job “user-friendly”.

She explained: “When the person passes, I used to take the picture out of the newspaper.

“I wanted to put the picture with the names so I know who the person is.

“Even some of the tourists that have passed, I have connected with families and I used to send cards or e-mails to say my condolences.”

While she dealt with numerous traffic incidents, Ms Johnson said the “hardest” for her was the death of six-year-old Tyaisha Cox in 2003.

The child was struck down by a motorist at a pedestrian crossing outside Purvis Primary School in Warwick.

She died after her parents made the painful decision to allow hospital staff to take her off a life-support machine.

Ms Johnson said she was sad because she knew the family and that while on the job, her thoughts would often linger on how incidents could have been prevented.

She keeps a record of all teenagers who have died in traffic accidents on the island’s roads.

Ms Johnson also keeps a colour-coded chart on the wall at her desk with fatal accidents stretching back to 1962.

Sometime ago, she said, a government minister “was impressed” when she pulled out her chart and listed the accidents by year.

Among the victims were her own relatives, and she added: “When you know the person, it is sad; even with the tourists it was sad.”

Over the years, Ms Johnson said, she experienced changes in BPS operations, including the time when female officers began working night shifts.

The mother of three, who married in 1980, praised the assistance and support she received from her colleagues and superiors over the years.

She said: “All my bosses that I have had since I’ve been here, they’ve been awesome.”

Ms Johnson said moving into retirement will be “bittersweet”.

She reflected: “It’s been a good journey. I was 20 when I started and I just can’t believe I’m still here.

“The good has outweighed the bad and if I had three bad experiences that’s about it.”

Laughingly, she said she and her colleague Sherry Tucker would often chat about their time at the BPS.

“When we first came the bosses were older than us, but now they are younger than us,” she said.