Police and road safety campaigners are urging the motoring public to remain vigilant after a higher than average number of fatalities.

The death of Tennison Fernando on Monday marked the 13th road fatality in the first nine months of this year, compared to 11 deaths for 2007.

Mr. Fernando, 40, a Sri Lankan national, died from head injuries after falling off his motorcycle into the path of an oncoming vehicle at a sharp bend in South Road, Southampton, on Sunday.

A spokesman for the Bermuda Police Service said: "Tragically so far this year, 13 people have been killed in collisions on our roads. In comparison, 11 people were killed due to traffic collisions in 2007 and 14 were killed in 2006. The Bermuda Police Service continues to urge all motorists to slow down and to use care, caution and courtesy on the Island's roads.

"Also, the motoring public is reminded not to drink and drive, and is encouraged to adjust their driving/riding behaviour according to traffic, road and weather conditions."

Shawnette Outerbridge, vice president of ROLO (Remembering Our Loved Ones), said: "On behalf of ROLO we would like to extend our condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of Tennison Fernando.

"Each time we hear of another fatality our hearts sink in sadness for the families affected.

"Our advice to the motoring public is to take every necessary precaution – don't drink and drive, or drive while texting on your cellphones or BlackBerrys, be vigilant of other road users, and slow down. Bermuda has seen 13 fatalities inside nine months, which is a devastatingly high number for an Island of this size.

This week the Bermuda Music Festival is expected to be attended by record numbers – we encourage those attending to take care as they go to and from the festival."

Dr. Christopher Johnson, chairman of the Road Safety Council, said: "We would like to express our condolences to the family of Mr. Fernando. This highlights the tragedy of what can happen on the roads of Bermuda.

"This year we are well above the average number of fatalities and so are asking the public to be much more vigilant about safety on our roads, to monitor their speed and not take risks. Most collisions are preventable and so taking due care and attention on the roads is the number one thing."

Dr. Johnson said the Council is currently making recommendations to Government on improved training for motorcyclists.

"We have a number of legislative initiatives coming forward, such as the 'graduated licensing scheme' and these should be going to Cabinet shortly," said Dr. Johnson.

Under the scheme, learner-drivers and teenagers would face an 11 p.m. curfew and a ban on pillion passengers for six months.

"New and young riders will have to go through a probationary period – the idea is to encourage safer driving," he said.

The Council is also working with King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and the Bermuda Health Council on a 'trauma register', to monitor the number of injuries from road accidents.

"This is a hardware and software program allowing us to follow injured people in terms of demography and injury severity," said Dr. Johnson.

"If we can understand the problem more, then we will be able to intervene more positively and hopefully decrease the number of fatalities and injuries. Road traffic collisions are one of the largest killers of young people in Bermuda, so from a public health point of view this is very important."

Former Road Safety Council chairman Dr. Joseph Froncioni also founded the charity BermudaSMARTRISK in 2001 to try and address accidents resulting in injury. Between 1993 and 2004, road traffic injuries increased by 67 percent.

Commenting on the 13 fatalities so far this year, Dr. Froncioni said: "We are certainly leading up to one of the bigger years. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, our roads have hardly changed. We don't have enough room to implement the engineering improvements you get in other jurisdictions, such as median dividers on undivided roads.

"And because the roads are so narrow, they have obstructions very close by. In other countries you have run-off areas so you don't immediately crash into things.

"Unfortunately we are unable to change our roads and make them safer, while meanwhile we've had an increase in traffic density and in the size of vehicles. We've also had a decrease in enforcement – there are hardly any Police on the roads anymore," he said.

'We've not been able to tackle the drink-drive problem, and today our average speed is probably closer to 60 kph, so the collisions we're getting are much more serious."

Dr. Froncioni's report 'Road Traffic Injuries in Bermuda 2003-4', published this June, found that nearly three-quarters of the 17 road fatalities during those years sustained major head injuries.

"Leaving helmets unfastened or not secured properly is a bad habit in Bermuda. If the Police were to enforce this offence they would be doing our community a great service," said Dr. Froncioni.

He added that wearing a helmet without a strap was akin to not wearing one at all, with Police used to finding unstrapped helmets 100 yards from a crash scene.