Members of the House agreed yesterday to prohibit the importation of upgrade kits for motorcycles in a move to reduce road injuries among young people.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said the aim of the Motorcycles and Auxilliary Bicycles (Special Measures of Control) Amendment Act 2001 was to prevent teenagers from souping up 50cc bikes to 100cc and even 150cc.

At the moment, bike dealers can import upgrade kits which enhance the engine power and speed of bikes.

But he said sometimes people as young as 16 and 17, who are not permitted to have anything above a 50cc and are inexperienced in riding bikes, are unable to handle the extra power, resulting in accidents.

And he said there was no way for the Transport Control Department (TCD) to monitor which bikes had been upgraded unless the owners admitted it.

Therefore, many people may be getting away with paying road tax for 50cc bikes, when they should be paying a higher charge.

The new measures, he said, would mean that anyone wishing to import an upgrade kit must first seek a permit from the Transport Ministry.

If the amendment is passed in the Senate, the only people who will be allowed to import the kits will be those who use bikes for organised motorcycle racing, and people who have bikes with an engine capacity greater than 100cc who owned the bikes before legislation limiting engine size was introduced.

Dr. Brown said: "This bill prohibits the importation of these kits. It will prevent bikes being upgraded beyond the current limit of 100cc.

"Anybody who imports will have to produce documents to TCD.'' Shadow Transport Minister Erwin Adderley said he believed the entire House was in support of the amendment, but said he wished the legislation was being updated in other areas, such as emissions, noise and the breaking of road regulations.

He said: "We do not have a problem with the intent and the objective of the bill.

"We think they are appropriate. The objective is to get people to stop using these kits.

"It puts the onus on the importer. But I believe that these days people can go on the internet and bring in these things, anyway. So, I hope Customs are going to be aware of it.'' But Mr. Adderley said he believed the major concern of the community was road rage -- and he said many of those culprits were riding legally.

He added: "It's not just speeding. It's attitude.

"I come to work along East Broadway and you look at the traffic violations.

There is not two lanes of traffic, there is three and four.

"These are the things that the public of Bermuda wish to have addressed. I am bringing these matters to the attention of the minister so he can get on and look at the legislation.'' Government backbencher Walter Lister said many of the people who bought the upgrade kits were not yet 18, and he said until that age they were not permitted to ride anything above a 50cc.

He said: "We may save lives of young people. We don't know, but if we save one life of a young person by saying you can't bring these kits in, then I think the decision this afternoon is worth it, many, many times over.'' And he said he did not believe young people would go to the extent of importing them themselves if they were no longer available from dealers.

And Shadow Development and Opportunity and Government Services Minister Allan Marshall said he would have preferred all the road issues dealt with in one go, such as engine sizes, noise, and pollution emissions, as opposed to the "piece meal'' way Government was approaching it.

But he said many young people did not get their bikes upgraded for more speed, but instead more power to enable them to get up hills.

At the moment, he said some teenagers on 50cc bikes had to speed along straight roads in order to build up speed to get up hills.

And he said Government should consider looking at bringing in four-stroke engines, which give bikes more power, as opposed to two-stroke engines, which are louder and enable bikes to go faster.

And he also asked the Minister to consider giving people with classic bikes special licence that only allowed them to take their bikes out a certain number of days a year.

He said at the moment, licences and insurance meant it was not viable to get the bikes legally on the road if they were only used five or six times a year.

He said: "My concern is that this is a piecemeal effort. We need to adopt the emissions standards that are the strictest. Then we need to go to the issue of noise.'' Dr. Brown said this piece of legislation only addressed the issue of upgrade kits and he apologised for the narrowness of the legislation.

He added: "I wish it could be more far-reaching, but unfortunately it can't.''