The death of Scottish expatriate Scott Davidson on Saturday has pushed the grim statistic of road fatalities back upward after three years of declining figures.

Mystery surrounds the circumstances of the year's seventh fatal road traffic accident which claimed Davidson's life. Police are now trying to retrace the man's steps on the evening prior to his death.

Scott Davidson was found dead on North Shore Road in Devonshire in the early hours.

A passing motorist alerted Police that a man was lying on the ground after an apparent road traffic accident sometime after 3.00 a.m. on Saturday. When Police arrived at the scene, officers found the 31-year-old man lying dead near his cycle. Mr. Davidson's body was found near the old ZFB studios on North Shore Road in Devonshire.

A local acquaintance confirmed the young man's identity for officers on Saturday. Police released the deceased man's name after contacting his family in Scotland and The Royal Gazette understands that his parents flew to the Island last night to attend to their son.

Scott Davidson was originally from Aberdeen. The Royal Gazette was told that he had been living in Bermuda for roughly a year and was employed by Bermuda Air Conditioning

Mr. Davidson's death is the second road fatality to rock the small, local company this year.

In May, fellow employee John Symons, a 34-year-old father of one was also killed in an early morning cycle accident.

Police are unclear about the details of the accident and have issued a request that anyone with knowledge of the accident or of Mr. Davidson's movements on Friday night contact Pc. Ferdinand Thorne at 299-4245.

A Police spokesman said at this stage it is uncertain whether it was a single vehicle accident or whether alcohol may have been a factor.

Scott Davidson's death marks Bermuda's seventh road fatality of 2001 and the second in the month of August. Forty-eight year old Dennis Furbert was killed over Cup Match weekend when the pedal cycle he was riding collided with a taxi on South Shore Road on August 3 in Warwick.

Mr. Davidson's former co-worker John Symons was killed in a single vehicle accident in May.

With seven deaths in the first eight months of the year, Bermuda has already exceeded the total road fatalities in 2000 when there were five.

That statistic reverses a three-year trend of declining road fatality numbers. There were ten road deaths in 1999 and 18 in 1998.