Lose The L-Plates

Anyone hoping that the Government's Throne Speech pledge to introduce a driving licence penalty points system would be just the first step in an effort to raise the Island's standard of driving will have been disappointed by Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown's recent comments.

The Minister was responding to Road Safety Council chairman Joe Froncioni who on Sunday condemned the Island's roads as "unsafe for all the users". While saying he was "saddened" by the Island's bad driving habits, Dr. Brown merely called upon young Bermudians to be more responsible, said he thought current traffic police staffing levels were adequate (though he was careful to point out that this is the Governor's responsibility), and refused to countenance the idea of introducing harsher sentences for those breaking traffic laws with the bizarre explanation that "the bike is a legitimate form of transportation and part of Bermuda culture".

This is a mistake. Expressions of remorse and vague entreaties to the Island's youth will do nothing to change behaviour. But perhaps the Minister doesn't really feel there's any need to. Certainly his offhand suggestion that that Road Safety Council is free to start a forum sounded like an indifferent attempt to pass the buck.

When it comes to making Bermuda's roads safer, Dr. Brown still has his L-plates on.

Comments

[Tiger Bay on 10.11.04 at 14:42]

Our police road enforcement is halfhearted. Sorry boys, lining up 15 officers on East Broadway to check seat belts during rush hour doesn't improve road safety. Maybe we can drag some Laz-e-boy chairs out there next to Johnnie Barnes so they'll be more comfortable next time.

[ace on 10.11.04 at 15:49]

Back when I was sixteen I feared the police. They were everywhere. Hearing about people getting 3 and 5 years "off the road" was pretty common.

That punnishment was the fear.

Now the traffic courts are merely a cash cow.

Those idiots who weave in and out of traffic don't care about fines, they just don't pay them. If they end up getting caught again some do a bit of time, but that doesn't seem to bother them.

[boogie on 11.11.04 at 10:27]

Here's a different take, something "The Limey", I'm sure is not familiar with. We have not heard much about Pack Racing in the past decade, have we? Pack Racing was the practice in the 1960s, 70s and 1980s of dozens, even hundreds of young people racing their cycles at night. No, not one on one drag races, large groups riding on both sides of the road - and often loosing thier lives.

For some reason it died out in the early 90s. I didn't understand why until I saw someone weaving through traffic the other day - Pack Race mentality has filtered into every-day driving. By all age groups. When you see a young man speeding and creating that third lane and escaping with his life in broad daylight - that's Pack Race mentality.

When you see a taxi driver make a U-turn on Front Street, while forcing all traffic to stop for him - that's Pack Race mentality - it's HIS road and he'll do whatever he wants to do with it. When regular, law abiding citizens are confronted in a case of road rage over a minor fender bender - that's Pack Race mentality.

Am I on the right track here? By the way, "Limey", yes I did it. ONCE. At age 15, I watched a friend die by the side of the road. Watched his blood flow like a water hose. When the Minister of Transport talks about one's cycle being a part of our culture - he's right and no government would tamper with that. Does anyone remember when the UBP in 199? had a clampdown and stopped cycle riders one morning on Middle Road, just east of the Paget Plaza? The outcry because a bunch of teenagers were late for school put paid to any spot checks like that for about a decade.

It all has to do with Bermuda's size - we have a mania about what I would call a 'national claustrophobia'. Owning a car or cycle is power - the power to escape the island's cloying, smothering closeness.

[The Limey on 11.11.04 at 11:00]

The thing I found puzzling about Ewart Brown's statement that "the bike is a legitimate form of transportation and part of Bermuda culture" is that it's a statement of the bloody obvious. Of course the bike is part of Bermuda's culture. But does that mean people should be allowed to ride their bikes (or cars) as dangerously as they please? No, it doesn't. Not because they might kill themselves (that's their decision), but because they might kill others. Harsher sentences would send a message that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable. Dr. Brown seems to be just shrugging his shoulders.

Anyone suffering from national claustrophobia should take a trip, see a shrink or emigrate.

[jake on 11.11.04 at 11:32]

Boogie,

Jake was in the pack - in the front with the RC100's the V80's with the kit on, and the DT100's.

You and I share the same experience in that too many of the guys I grew up with and went to school with are gone because of bikes, speed and alcohol - choose any two and increase your chance of dying.

I think what the Limey is calling for (Phil, I like to call him) is sensible riding and enforcemnent of the law so that the general motorist is safe. None of our people who die this way die for any good reason. Their lives are cut short needlessly. We need to slow our country down.

Too many of us see the Police as the Man - too often in our past they have been - but that must change. They are there to protect society and keep us in many cases from killing ourselves and others. They are public servants and public protectors. We do not achieve freedom when we ride any way we like. We achieve anarchy - and the chaos that must follow.

The adrenaline rush that comes on the bike is no fair exchange for the loss of a friend. You and I have had both. We know that is true.

[Tiger Bay on 11.11.04 at 19:01]

Sure the bikes speed. What's worse is that the cars speed. The trucks speed. The damn buses speed. Road etiquette is forgotten. Restoring it will take active police presence - around the island, around the clock - not just showing up at Crow Lane at rush hour.

When will the points system be implemented?

What about the camera radar traps that were "just about to be rolled out" in 1998?

[Somers on 12.11.04 at 09:14]

The "Pack Race" folks have now grown up and are able to “spruce-up” their cars now. They kit them all up just like they did their V50's. I feel all things need to be clamped down, like illegally tinted windows, stereo's that could be used to bring down long range missiles, and mufflers that actually make the car louder. Have you ever stood on Queen Street on a sunny afternoon outside KFC? Other than the double parking bonanza it is practically mayhem. Stopping the kids now from riding with reckless abandon on kitted up mopeds will go a long way in ten years.

The excessive speed, high speed crashes, followed with the hospital visits are all costing us in the end. Has anyone been to the insurance company lately??? All I want is for the insurance company to do a better job at identifying the hooligans, and charge them more. But then again, they would probably just not even get the insurance, and drive around unlicensed anyway. It makes no difference to them it seems. I would suggest that the problem boils down to a lack of respect, not only of the Police, but our fellow man.

To highlight this fact, I was witness to something absolutely stunning the other morning during the Police occupation of East Broadway. Due to a few appointments that morning I had to go past them a few times. When I was driving out of town at one point, the traffic was moving quite swiftly; not bumper to bumper and as I glanced over past Johnny to see if I had to give way I saw a blue car coming into town in Lane 2, and as he/she drove past Johnny he spit on the police officer posted there. Absolutely disgusting - I couldn’t believe it! The officer no-doubt had that person pulled over further up the road as he immediately got on the radio. I hope that driver got a court date, but then again, if he/she spit on a police officer in broad daylight what would he/she do in front of a judge?

I applaud the effort the Police are giving, and only wish they were there every day. They have been slipping over the past 10 years and we are now paying the price.

[Milo on 12.11.04 at 09:19]

Limey,
I'm suffering from "national claustrophobia" but I can't afford to take a trip or see a shrink. Plus I had a drug conviction 4 years ago which bars me further from travelling or working abroad. What would you suggest I do?

[Tiger Bay on 12.11.04 at 09:32]

Milo: I suggest that you stop acting out and behave like a productive citizen. Your issues don't exempt you from the law.

I'm sorry, but speeding is not a sociological problem.

[boogie on 12.11.04 at 10:30]

Ahh, folks, I didn't say that 'national claustrophobia' was causing speeding. NC is our mania about riding and driving which seems to be pervasive. It is that mania that exhibits itself in the refrain "what's the hurry? Bermuda's only 21 miles long?"

It's a mania in which sureley 75 percent of the cars entering Hamilton every day have a single occupant and there would be a revolt if a government suggested car pooling. In my original post I stumbled for a phrase to describe the mania - and completely forgot "Rock Fever". Maybe I should have used that.

Btw, I don't like name calling and used "The Limey" in quotes to express my distaste at the epithet.

[Racer X on 06.01.05 at 15:41]

Even though you don't hear about it like you used to, pack racing is still very much alive on our roads and the police are well aware of this fact. The number of bikers may have dwindled from "hundreds" to "dozens" but the thrill of speed contests between your friends or others that you challenge will always remain a part of our culture. Bottom line..
Maybe if the Government stepped up and converted the Morgans Point land thats wasting away in Southampton into a safe "drag strip" for bikers to pull back the throttle on weekend days, it would at least give young people(such as myself)an alternative outlet for some speed and it would be a controlled environment. As for the cars....Thats a different story