MPs passed a bill last night to put a curfew on bikers under 18 and make them pass a driver's education course before letting them loose on the roads.

Premier and Transport Minister Ewart Brown said the measure was necessary to reduce the carnage from accidents.

The Auxiliary Bicycles Amendment Act will introduce a new Bermuda Youth Licence available to 16 to 18 year-olds under strict conditions.

They must complete the Project Ride programme, they must stay off the roads between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. and they must not carry passengers.

Dr. Brown said: "The long term benefit is to reduce the carnage."

On average there are more than 500 road collisions involving 16-18-year-olds every year said Dr. Brown who added that young riders were both more inexperienced and more impulsive and immature.

He said studies had shown that it took between two and five years before riders had the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary for safe driving.

Driver education programmes were taking off the world over and were paying off by reducing teen road fatalities, said the Premier.

And he said Bermuda's roads were getting busier and less forgiving.

"(Years ago) if you were riding at two o'clock in the morning and you went around a blind corner the odds were nothing would be coming. In today's Bermuda there is likely to be a car coming."

He said pillion passengers could be a distraction to young riders and encourage them to risky behaviour.

And the Premier told of one rider who passed the test on his 16th birthday and then came home that same night bloodied and in excruciating pain after a road accident, telling his mum: "The road turned, I didn't."

He said the mandatory Project Ride scheme would require 16 to 18-year-olds answer 30 out of 35 questions correctly to get a youth licence. Any traffic offences will see the licence rescinded.

United Bermuda Party MP Charlie Swan said his party supported the intention of the bill but he said the eight to 12 hours training on Project Ride was inadequate.

Independent Wayne Furbert also supports the bill and added that parents need to take responsibility, teaching responsibility at a very young age. He also suggested the Island should move towards implementing electric bikes at they can only go so fast.

Opposition MP John Barritt also supported the intention of the bill however he felt the programme should not only target young riders but should also be enforced on adult offenders.

Government backbencher Ashfield DeVent said he originally opposed the bike bill but had changed his mind.

He explained he had guessed constituents would be against it but a straw poll had showed out of around 20 people he had asked, only one was opposed.

Mr. DeVent said he thought in his economically impoverished seat there would have financial concerns because it would have stopped older children taking their younger siblings around on bikes.

But he said safety fears outweighed those of finance. Times had changed with faster bikes and more dangerous roads said the MP who told of coming across a CedarBridge girl who had slipped on wet roads who was unable to lift her bike it was so heavy.

"When I was 16, Mobylettes could only go at 45-50 mph. Bikes can now do 70 mph."

He confessed he had worried young constituents might not like the bill because it could restrict their riding but he realised it was wrong to be more concerned about lost votes than lost lives.

On claims that bikes were a rite of passage he said adults needed to remember they were there to restrict youngsters from danger. "That is our role, young people are different, they are not adult they can't vote, drink or go into bars."

And he said youngsters he had spoken to had even admitted they would prefer more discipline from their parents.

Mr. DeVent was one of a number of MPs who said that the curfew was fair as children that age should not be out at that time anyway.

Environment Minister Glenn Blakeney agreed that the curfew could have far reaching consequences in improving young lives, not just through road safety.

Shadow Immigration Minister Shawn Crockwell backed the bill but said it was piecemeal.

The UK had a minimum of 40 hours of driver's education said Mr. Crockwell, but the Government was proposing just 12.

He added: "We would have preferred a balance 20 hours, maybe 25, if 40 is too high."

Mr. Crockwell wondered why the law would stop a 17-year-old tourist with specific bike training from riding yet allow a 30-year-old visitor with no bike experience to hit the roads.

Bike riding required specific skills, argued Mr. Crockwell.

However Government MP Michael Scott said it would be wrong to have different laws for tourists.

And he said not only would the bill reduce late night carnage which saw doctors stitching children together again, he said it would likely lead to lower insurance.

Opposition Education spokesman Grant Gibbons said Project Ride, with four hours theory and eight hours practical application, wasn't necessarily adequate.

And he said the youngest riders were taking the brunt of the law yet other younger riders in their twenties and early 30s were causing havoc on drink and drugs.

And Dr. Gibbons echoed Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief's concern that more accidents could be caused by young riders speeding away from Police trying to enforce the laws.

Energy Minister Terry Lister pointed out that 70 percent of those who die on the road used alcohol and most were 30-65. "Today's bill is part of the solution," said Mr. Lister.

But he added that more needed to be done to tighten up drink driving laws. He said in some US states jail came with a second drink drive conviction.

Some countries seized vehicles while one country jailed not only the drink driver but the spouse, claimed Mr. Lister.

"We have to look at how we address the whole picture, today we are doing part of it."

In response to the debate of tourist teens, Premier Brown reminded the House that only two percent of tourists fit in the 16 to 18 age bracket so there would not be a financial hamper on not renting cycles to these teens and that the new bill was taking steps to ensure the Island's visitors are better riders.

He also pointed out that this is the beginning of attempting to rectify a growing problem and if everyone sat around and waited for legislation to be perfect, they will be waiting forever.