Transport Minister Ewart Brown’s decision to revamp the Motor Car Act is timely and necessary.

Bermuda has changed enormously since the Act was first passed and cars were first introduced. The law, as he says, has since been amended to death, so much so that it bears little resemblance to the original legislation.

Nonetheless, any review of the laws needs to start with some basic principles.

Clearly, the first of these must be safety and the inherent dangers in navigating Bermuda’s roads. Vehicles have to be limited in size and power to reduce the risk and severity of accidents. And drivers should be adequately trained for the same reason.

The second principle must be some control over the number of vehicles on the roads, given that the Island is already close to a crisis level.

The third principle, which may well clash with the second, is giving residents some choice over the form of transport they wish to use.

The fourth must be to ensure that vehicles on the Island’s roads are environmentally-friendly. Ensuring that car and bike emissions are kept at acceptable levels is central to that.

In terms of safety, Dr. Brown told The Royal Gazette <$>this week that the draughters of the legislation would be looking at allowing larger cars. He should take great care with this; while it can be argued that consumers deserve choice and larger cars are to some degree safer than smaller ones in accidents, many of Bermuda’s roads are too narrow to accommodate large vehicles without causing an accident.

But he does deserve credit for looking at a graduated licensing scheme; too many drivers today either do not know the rules of the road or safe driving habits or wilfully ignore them.

Higher standards for drivers of bikes and cars are essential and should be a part of any new legislation.

How the Minister deals with the growing number of vehicles on the roads is the question that has baffled every one of Dr. Brown’s predecessors. The introduction of fast ferries and more minibus services should go some way to moving people towards public transport and keeping their vehicles off the roads.

One element of the current Motor Car Act that must remain in place is the one car per household rule. But it should be more strictly enforced, with more stringent restrictions on business vehicles and apartment assessment numbers being used for second cars.

Restricting car ownership in other ways should be explored, although it may turn out to be politically impossible. But a points system for car ownership, based on age, family status and the like should be examined.

It is not quite clear what Dr. Brown means when he says that the second hand car market will be examined having said that people are forced to buy new cars.

Because second-hand cars can already be bought locally, it may mean that he is looking at allowing the importation of second-hand cars. This could be dangerous, given that it would be difficult to monitor the quality of the cars being imported.

Some of the blame for the increase in traffic can be attributed to previous Government’s decision to ease the restrictions on the sale of secondhand cars. That move made cars more affordable, and was sensible for that reason. But it has clearly, for the same reason, increased the number of vehicles on the road. Finally, vehicles should have strict controls on emissions. Bermuda’s clean air is important to Bermuda for health and economic reasons. For that reason, some kind of further incentives ought to be made for electric cars and bikes.