Statistics suggesting that progress has been made with regard to road safety on the Island should be taken with a grain of salt, according to incoming chairman of the Road Safety Council Dr. Joseph Froncioni.

"I have not seen a change,'' in local attitudes toward road safety, he said of personal observations as an emergency room (ER) physician and orthopaedic surgeon.

"We have to be very careful when looking at any statistics in Bermuda,'' he said. "There are tremendous variations in all our stats. All the numbers change quite a lot. I'd like to think that there has been an effective decrease, but statistically it's difficult to say. In a few more years we may be able to see a trend and be able to take the credit.'' Last year road fatalities decreased to five, a significant decline from ten in 1999 and 18 road deaths in 1998. Eric Fuhrtz, 15, was the first person to die on Bermuda's roads this year.

Alcohol continues to be a factor in many road accidents and Dr. Froncioni is hopeful that laws to allow emergency room attendants to withdraw blood from patients coming to the ER with injuries believed to be alcohol-related will come into force within months.

"Once we start to be able to check blood for alcohol, we'll have hard statistics,'' he said. "It's always been our impression in the ER that a large percentage of people we treat (for road accidents) have alcohol on their breath but we haven't had hard numbers.'' "The law is there,'' he added referring to the 1997 Road Traffic Amendment Act which has yet to be implemented due to technical and legal problems concerning chain of custody, Police standard operating procedures and involvement of police technicians and emergency room staff.

Achieving implementation "has been very hard,'' he said. "As we speak, though the last of these problems is being taken care of.'' Transportation Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said that the Attorney General is currently addressing these legal hurdles and fallout from a recent Court of Appeal decision on suspected impaired drivers refusing to undergo police breath analysis.

Earlier this month Chief Justice Austin Ward ruled that refusals to take a breathalyser test could not be treated as harshly as drink-driving cases with breathalyser evidence when he overturned a three-month suspended sentence that had been handed down by Magistrate Ed King.

The decision sparked fears that more people would refuse to undergo breath analysis.

Prior to taking over the chair from outgoing Pandora Wright, Dr. Froncioni was already an outspoken member of the Road Safety Council. Last year he spoke out on "flimsy'' helmet standards and the need for blood tests.

"He has taken on the task in spite of, or perhaps because of, his busy schedule,'' Dr. Brown said when introducing the new chairman.

"When he takes to the operating room he sees the damage done to people on our roads which gives him a unique perspective on road safety and uniquely equips him to do the work.'' Implementing mandatory seat belts and child safety seats and graduating the licensing procedure for inexperienced drivers are among the prime objectives for the Council this year.

Also on the front burner will be drafting legislation to bring helmet standards up to international criteria and the introduction of a new Junior Road Safety Council.

The Council will continue to focus on education efforts to spread the road safety message to the greater community.

Grim warning: Road Safety Council chairman Dr. Jospeh Froncioni.