A National Day of Remembrance will take place in the Fall for all those who have died on Bermuda's roads in the past ten years.

The event is being planned by R.O.L.O., Remembering Our Loved Ones, a charity set up by the families and friends of accident victims to provide support to grieving relatives.

The group also aims to set up a counselling service at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and to compile a manual of practical advice in the event of a fatality.

In the meantime, the Road Safety Council has outlined plans to tighten driving licence qualifications. It wants to introduce a 'graduated licensing' scheme, whereby motorcyclists with less than six months' experience will be prohibited from 'towing' passengers.

Roxanne Christopher, Road Safety Officer, told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "One of the recommendations coming forward from TCD this year is 'graduated licensing'.

"This will mean no pillion passengers for the first six months. New riders will also have to obey an 11 p.m. curfew and wear a 'novice' licence plate. We are currently compiling our final recommendations to the Ministry of Transport.

"We feel we have to make some drastic changes which may be unpopular but they will help to prevent the loss of any more lives on our roads."

Ms Christopher said the 'graduated licensing' scheme will work in three phases, with progression to the next stage dependent on being conviction-free. Anyone receiving a conviction is bumped down to the previous stage and must requalify.

Firstly, new riders will have to take a written and practical exam, stay off the roads after 11 p.m. and not 'tow' anyone. The second stage, six months later, allows motorcyclists to travel at all times and to 'tow'. The final stage then involves a secondary written and practical exam.

Ms Christopher said R.O.L.O. has been set up as a charity to provide comfort to the families and friends of road accident victims. "This organisation was started as a direct result of the first Town Hall meeting of the Road Safety Council to try to bring together all the families of victims of road fatalities," said Ms Christopher.

"There were a large number of people who wanted to do more to extend their arms to others, and so we decided to work with them.

"They have a reach that we may not have, because they have walked the road — it has actually happened to them.

"It is important that the public understands that it isn't just one life on the line — any accident leaves a permanent scar on those left behind."

Ms Christopher said R.O.L.O. plans to have members on call at the hospital after a fatality, so families will have someone to talk to for comfort.

"There is always an intense amount of grief and these people can therefore help as they have been down this journey as well. They will be parents, brothers and sisters, or friends," she said.

R.O.L.O. is also compiling a manual of practical contacts and advice, such as where families should go to obtain a death certificate or to attend an inquest. "We have so many fatalities on our roads, we felt we should put something together as to 'how tos and what nexts'," said Ms Christopher. "Everyone in the community will have access to this information.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for these families, to make the process as seamless as possible."

She said the National Day of Remembrance will take place at the National Stadium later this year.

"We will ask the community to come out and spend at least one hour remembering those who have lost their lives on our roads," said Ms Christopher. "This will be a significant day for Bermuda as we have never had anything like this before."

In addition, R.O.L.O. is to erect two memorials in each parish to honour the people who have died there. Ms Christopher said: "There is nothing more of a deterrent than seeing your loved one in a coffin.

"R.O.L.O. will be hitting home the message of road safety and about how road fatalities truly impact on the whole family."

The Bermuda Police Service is also to step up its enforcement of the rules of the road through more patrols and educational campaigns in partnership with the Road Safety Council. Police say they are "alarmed" at the recent rise in road traffic accidents. This weekend 32 incidents were reported — half resulting in injury and two of them fatal – the first road fatalities of 2008.

Anyone interested in R.O.L.O. should contact Ms Christopher on 292-1271.