New legislation including night-time curfews for young motorcyclists will end the anarchy on Bermuda's roads — but only if it's policed properly, according to campaigner Joseph Froncioni.

Dr. Froncioni is delighted with the Graduated Licensing System (GLS), a scheme he has been advocating for the past decade that means 16 to 18-year-old motorcyclists can only get full licences after they have proved they are capable drivers. However, he warned it will make no difference if the new law is ignored in the same way as speeding and helmet legislation has been.

After last week's Throne Speech, Premier and Transport Minister Ewart Brown said under GLS first-time riders would be given provisional licences only.

This would ban them from the roads between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., stop them carrying pillion passengers and force them to undergo ten hours of on-road lessons from a qualified instructor.

Former Road Safety Council chairman Dr. Froncioni told The Royal Gazette: "I'm overjoyed. It's not like we're reinventing the wheel here — Graduated Licensing Systems have been tried and tested overseas and they seriously reduce the amount of accidents among young people.

"It's not going to be easy to implement. It's a radical change in Bermudian culture. A bike at 16 is a rite of passage and absolutely expected by nearly every 16-year-old.

"When kids turn 16 there's an explosion of injuries on our roads. It's unacceptable and it's preventable. I'm proud of Dr. Brown. To be the one to introduce this takes courage. It won't pass without criticism."

Dr. Froncioni said laws of the road are currently not policed, with most people driving around at 50 or 60 kilometres per hour, while many young motorcyclists don't fasten their helmets.

Regarding implementation of GLS, he said: "If it's not policed, it won't have any effect. Not policing it would be dropping the ball.

"We need to see more Police presence for sure. We also have a demerit points system people don't know about. It's about education.

"You need to pour money on to the problem: public service announcements. The long-term solution is to teach people to ride a bike. Gradually, you begin to put a population on the road which is much safer."

He said although most road death victims are older people, GLS would help ensure good habits are instilled from an early age, as many young people's lives are ruined through serious injury even though their cases don't hit the headlines.

Dr. Froncioni is the founder of the charity Bermuda Smartrisk and along with Health Promotion Coordinator Jennifer Attride-Stirling and psychology researcher Marcelo Ramella compiled a report from more than 3,500 accidents in 2003/04.

The survey, which showed 16-year-olds are most likely to be involved in an accident, pointed to a 67 percent increase in road injuries sustained by residents between 1993 and 2004; while in 2003/04, about five accidents were reported a day.

On the long wait since he first started calling for GLS, Dr. Froncioni said: "I knew it was going to be difficult. It's a significant paradigm change; a cultural change.

"There were times when I was a little bit depressed. Maybe our published study this year finally put the numbers out there to show something needed to be done."