June 29, 2011Dear Sir,Only the extremely self-indulgent will ignore the fact that Bermuda’s roads have become overcrowded and harrowingly dangerous.In this regard, I am reminded of being collected after school by my Papa Lister as a young boy. The car ride from Warwick Academy that would ordinarily have taken five minutes, for us, took substantially longer, and never once did the needle on his speedometer go past the twenty mile per hour mark; a stark contrast to the general indiscipline and abuse of privilege that seems to characterise the road users of today.Sentiment aside, and in the absence of any real initiatives in this area, may I propose the introduction of a traffic reduction scheme.“The Number Coding Scheme, officially named the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), is a traffic management program in the Philippines that aims to reduce the amount of vehicular traffic in Metro Manila, the metropolitan area of the country’s capital. The programme is enforced by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. The basic idea behind the programme is that a vehicle whose plate number ends in a particular number is barred from using the main streets of Metro Manila on particular days. For instance, vehicles whose plate numbers end in 1 or 2 cannot be brought out to the main streets on Mondays. The programme’s original proposal mandated that the colour of the roofs of public transportation, like jeepneys and buses, is used as the basis for barring of these vehicles. Hence, the program is also often known as the Colour Coding Scheme.”A similar programme could quite easily be instituted in Bermuda and the authorities here could regulate this in the simplest of fashion.Of course, the above programme or any derivative thereof would not negate the need for personal responsibility, and appeals for personal discipline on our roads would also help immeasurably.May God Almighty guide and keep us.BLESSINGS AND RESPECTSouthampton