inspired by the Tumim Report, Transport Minister the Hon. Ralph Marshall said yesterday.

As tabled, The Traffic Offences (Penalties) Amendment Act 1993 would abolish mandatory jail terms for traffic offences.

Mr. Marshall told the House that Government will also consider ending mandatory minimum disqualifications of driving licences for speeding offences.

The change would be made next week when debate resumes in the committee stage, with the bill in its second reading.

"I had my reservations about the minimum disqualification for speeding myself,'' Mr. Marshall said near the end of yesterday's morning debate.

While supporting the changes Government proposed, the Opposition argued that all mandatory penalties should be ended and discretion returned to local magistrates and judges.

They charged the traffic amendments were being used to "bamboozle'' the public into believing Government was responding to the report of the Criminal Justice Review Board.

Mr. Marshall said the bill would not only end mandatory jail terms, but end the practice of issuing consecutive disqualifications of driver's licences, which have left some Bermudians off the road until the turn of the century.

Six months after the bill became law, disqualified drivers who committed no new offences in that time would receive a clean slate, he said.

The changes were partly debated by the House during recent consideration of the Tumim Report, which recommended that mandatory jail terms for traffic offences be stopped.

Shadow Transport Minister Mr. Walter Roberts said the Progressive Labour Party had called for such changes for years, and "fought vehemently against'' the penalties when they were introduced by Government in 1976.

Bermuda is "about the only place in the world that I know about where people are imprisoned for traffic offences,'' he said.

Government was now changing the law, but "look at the damage which has been done to so many young people over those 18 years''.

The United Bermuda Party could not be congratulated for changing the law, since it introduced it in the first place, he said.

And while there were 34 recommendations, only one piece of legislation had been tabled. If earlier reports on the justice system were acted on, "probably there would have been no real cause to have the Tumim Report''.

The driver amnesty should be implemented immediately, not delayed six months, Mr. Lister said. "What we're really seeing here is just a piecemeal approach to a very serious problem.'' And many minimum penalties would still be in effect under the Transport Minister's amendment.

Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade said Judge Tumim wanted to free the tied hands of the courts and restore discretion to magistrates.

"The big step would have been to give the discretion back to the courts completely,'' and remove minimum licence suspensions as well, Mr. Wade said.

Shadow Environment Minister Mr. Julian Hall said the amendment was an "obvious and transparent exercise in public relations gimmickry''.

The Government was trying to herald the change as "some major first step'' in ending inequities, but "I don't buy it, not for a second,'' he said.

Judge Tumim wanted all minimum penalties ended, not just mandatory jail terms, Mr. Hall argued.

The UBP had been waging a press campaign, he said. First, "at least two cabinet ministers apparently acknowledged the evil of institutional racism,'' then Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan "denied its existence'' and "blamed the black people for their own plight,'' he said.

But the Premier was corrected on his statement by his "highly-paid advertising executives,'' and now "we find The Royal Gazette newspaper coming out suggesting that the champion of eradication of institutional racism in Bermuda must be regarded as the UBP and the Premier.

"The objective of putting forward this legislation is just to allow the UBP to secure another few days of favourable press reports.'' Delegated Affairs Minister the Hon. Sir John Sharpe said the amendment was clearly recommended by Tumim. Perhaps Government should consider removing other minimum penalties as well, he said.

But the PLP was "rather prone to exaggerate their effect,'' Sir John told the House, adding he did not recall their "strenuous, vociferous objections'' when the penalties were introduced in 1976.

He produced the minutes of that sitting and said the law "seemed to have cruised through,'' with all clauses moved at once, third reading approved the same day, and no objection from the Opposition recorded.

Independent MP Mr. Stuart Hayward said Government was misleading the public in suggesting the traffic amendments were fulfilling recommendations of the Tumim Report.

Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said the present law was brought in because of the terrible problem with speeding in the 1970s that led to a large number of traffic deaths.

The community felt the judiciary was not meting out adequate sentences, Mr.

Edness said.

While the PLP did not concur fully, "there was a sympathy for this effort to try to stop what was taking place on our roads,'' he said. "We had some fairly horrific accidents among young people.'' The Government also made crash helmets mandatory, and "the Opposition party disagreed with that as well,'' he said.

But mandatory sentences were now creating another problem and a change was needed. "To say that we're heralding this as enacting all the recommendations of the Tumim Report is a pack of nonsense.'' Why not agree to implement changes that could be made quickly, he asked. Mr.

Edness felt the traffic changes responded fully to the Tumim recommendations in that area, and "the things that we're not changing we're not changing because they should be left in place.'' National Liberal Party Leader Mr. Gilbert Darrell said he supported the amendment as it was, because it would "take care hopefully of those habitual perpetrators and abusers of the laws''.

Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mrs. Lois Browne Evans said the traffic amendment "shows up the ad hoc mentality of the UBP ... who will blow in the wind here and there, willy nilly''.

The social climate in Bermuda has not changed much since the 1970s, she said.

"There is still pack racing, there are still young offenders, there are still people in need of something to do.

"We have been saying for years we need a proper and comprehensive review of our motor traffic laws.'' Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan said one reason the mandatory penalties were introduced was in response to allegations and perceptions that magistrates and judges were treating some people differently than others.

In response, "we went to a much more defined system which has now created more problems than it eradicated''.

It is hoped the judicial system in Bermuda has matured to the extent that removal of mandatory penalties will not result in renewed allegations of unfair treatment, Sir John said.

"The Honourable Member from Sandys South has already injected that the colour of the skin made a difference at the time,'' the Premier said. "That's exactly what we tried to get around by bringing in mandatory sentences.''