Dear Sir,

I write with reference to the public outcry at the road traffic accident rate, recently highlighted in the evening news. I, and I suppose most of the public, have watched over the years the same very genuine distress being aired about twice a year. And nothing changes.

I am of the opinion that the option to speed must be removed. Only then would things come back under control. If all motorised vehicles, starting with two-wheeled ones, were required by law to be factory-fitted with engine regulators (governors) that will not let the vehicle exceed 30mph, then speed would become much less a player in the accident rate.

It won’t totally resolve the problem; people will still drive dangerously, but not dangerously fast. It is all a matter of how serious you are about solving the problem.

I have raised this with the Bermuda Road Safety Council over the years. The most honest response is probably the one that says it is too hot a political potato: “Doing this would be political suicide.”

But this is true only if it is not agreed by both parties.

With the speed limit set at 22.5mph, allowing a maximum speed of 30mph would still give a safe overtaking speed. And once this is through the House of Assembly and made law, and people saw the decrease in injuries and deaths, the next move would be to apply it to all vehicles — private cars, taxis, truck and buses, etc.

Reality has shown that just having 22.5mph in the law books is no deterrent. There is no sufficient enforcement.

The concept of regulators on vehicles is not new. I can remember them being in place as far back as the 1950s. They are in operation in various formats in many countries. So if we are serious, let’s get on with it. If not, then it’s just more of the same old wringing of hands and talk, while visiting the broken body in hospital — or, worse, standing around a grave.

JEFF PAYNE

Southampton