The phrase rush hour is more than a little ironic for the commuters whose daily trip to Hamilton is an hour-long grind.

When you are in line of traffic backed up as far as Warwick moving at a snail?s pace then travelling at Bermuda?s 20 mph speed limit seems like the height of reckless abandon.

It?s no surprise ? there are nearly 46,000 vehicles on the road including more than 21,000 cars according to statistics compiled this month. That?s one thousand cars per square mile.

The growth has been staggering ? far outstripping the general growth of the island.

Between 1980 and 1999 there was a 14 percent increase in population, a 25 percent increase in employment and a 33 percent increase in the number of homes but a 71 percent increase in the number of cars, says Transport Ministry consultant Larry Jacobs.

But islanders don?t need to know the statistics, they live the reality every day.

Commuters from the West End know the misery of the daily car commute while East Enders are now finding problems mounting their end.

The problem multiplies with accidents and wet weather and when the private schools are in it becomes a nightmare.

Increasing commuting times have an unseen social cost. People spend less time with their families as they get up earlier and earlier to avoid the traffic and linger later in their offices to avoid the 5 p.m. traffic jams.

National Trust Environmental Committee chairman Bill Holmes said: ?It?s a major environmental issue and an extremely important quality of life issue because people take the experience they have on the roads into whatever building they are going into whether it?s home or work.

?If it becomes harder and harder everyday to get where you are going, without some massive ordeal, it will greatly increase people?s stress.?

Many solutions tried in other countries won?t work here. Separate bus lanes or bike lanes are an impossibility on roads barely able take two lanes of traffic.

The scrapping of Bermuda?s railway made perfect sense in the 1940s when there were around 5,000 vehicles on the road but now there are nearly ten times that number and it is too late to turn the clock back.

Traffic Unit Inspector Chris Spencer sees the traffic problem first hand every day and recently took out on his rounds.

At 8 a.m. traffic was backed up as far as Morgan?s Road on Harbour Road, Warwick ? several miles from the middle of Front Street.

The situation will only get worse nearer 9 a.m noted Insp. Spencer who said the build-up starts earlier and earlier with construction workers on the road in the early mornings.

?We are about to conduct a study with CedarBridge students very, very soon to look at the amount of vehicles travelling in the rush hour with only one person on board.

?The school will do it as part of maths project and construct graphs.?

He said some of the cars will have dropped off children at school so statistics were needed to find the true number of solo journeys.

But like the rest of the island he is groping for possible solutions.

?There has to be some control somehow. I am not sure what measures we should take to control it. We only have so much space.

?We need to look at this because the prevailing attitude in Bermuda is going to be ?You can?t tell me I can?t buy a car?.?

Banning certain registrations on certain days, practised elsewhere, would also meet resistance predicts Insp. Spencer.

?It?s very difficult for somebody to have a job, save their money or get a loan for a car and you tell them when they can drive their car.?

Staggering work times would also relieve the pressure said Insp. Spencer.

?What happens is a lot of this traffic increase is as a result of schools. When school is out there isn?t so much build up.

?It will take a community effort.?

Commuting is easier from the east but the build up still exist.

?The ferries help. Anything that takes the traffic off the road I am for.

?There are so many vehicles going into the city with one person on board. Large businesses in the city should encourage car pooling because if you go in town you see a lot of buildings going up now have underground parking.

?They need internal committees.?