Roxanne Christopher-Road Safety Officer

Roxanne Christopher from the Road Safety Council who introduced Dr Johnson a reconstructive surgeon who first showed us graphic pictures of what he is regularly faced with.  He stressed that full head helmets are a very good option as it is very common to have lower jaw and mouth damage.  Despite the road safety campaign, increased public awareness, police enforcement, and legislation nothing is working. Since 1998 to present over 100 people have died in road crashes.

Alcohol, Speed, Inattention are major contributors to fatal accidents.   31 - 51 year olds are the cause of most crashes, 16-25 year olds are the most to die.  We have more cell phones per capita than anywhere in the world and this leads to some of the problems we see.

            Roxanne Christopher continue, we face many challenges during this time and the solutions may not be convenient, but we are forced to make extremely unpopular decisions, such as graduated licensing and the possibility of random sobriety checks. Another challenge we face as we try to decrease the senseless death on our roads is sensitivity.  Which means our community is desensitized to the loss of life on our roads, in the last two months seven have died on our roads. We are accustomed to the loss and to a large extent we expect it to occur. We have lost a generation due to road related deaths.  Why don't we care anymore?  When is it going to stop? This lack of sensitivity towards the loss of life is crippling us, and our ability to truly support each other.  Do we only think of road safety when it is our son or daughter or loved one?

Children - More and more children are being treated for injuries due to not being properly restrained in cars.

Youth - Our youth need a more intensive cycle training program and we have the answer "graduated license" The basic scheme will include a ban on towing for the first two years. All youth that have an initial license must be off the roads no later than 11pm no exceptions.

The training course currently called Project Ride is currently a 12 hour cycle training program; the new program will be a 25 hour cycle training program and testing in real life situations.

Drunk Driving - It is still socially acceptable to drink and drive in many circles around Bermuda. We need to push for heavy fines and liability for the servers of alcohol and owners of establishments when they continue to serve someone who is visibly intoxicated. 

Seniors - There must be more stringent vision testing as we age to ensure that we have safe driving environments for all. TCD will shortly have precise vision testing machines to address any concerns.

Cycle Liveries - We must have standard testing procedures for all livery companies.  With auxiliary cycles being one of the most dangerous modes of transport in the world, we must look at alternative modes of transport to support for our visitors.

            No longer can we call collisions accidents due to the fact that accidents are preventable,  every and all fatalities can be prevented.  We must evaluate what is a smart risk and stupid risk.  We must be accountable and responsible for our actions and realize that by being irresponsible it can result in your loved ones not ever coming home again.

            Lyndon B. Johnson said "There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves"  Road safety needs your countless support on how we can create safe roads now and forever.