BPS Supports 4th UN Global Road Safety Week

Mon, 2017-05-08

Inspector Robert Cardwell, Officer Responsible for Roads Policing - The World Health Organization recognizes that the most preventable deaths occurring in all OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) territories are those that are occurring on the roads.

Over a number of years, Bermuda records on average of one death on our roads per month.

Police investigations into these road deaths continue to reveal that most involved alcohol/drugs, excessive speed or inattention. On occasion all three of these causes were present.

Besides the deaths occurring on the roads, Bermuda continues to record a number of road traffic collisions where the injuries suffered are serious and in some cases life changing.

These serious injury collisions impact everyone as the medical costs alone, which are then coupled with the costs of long term rehabilitation and sometimes life-long support, are a burden on all motor insurers. This burden is passed onto the consumer in the form of increasing insurance premiums.

Statistically in Bermuda, males are more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious injury collision. These males will be disproportionately black and will be between the age of 20 and 30 and certainly in the prime of their life.

The World Health Organization is promoting through all the OECD territories a “go slow” week. This week will occur between 8th and 12th May.

This week is an opportunity for all road users to consciously examine the speed at which they travel when operating a motor vehicle and to ensure that they are giving their road use and motor vehicle operation the full attention that is required. 

CCTV

As everyone is aware there is a network of CCTV cameras around the island on most major roads and at most major junctions. The CCTV cameras assist the police in collision investigation, as often we can see what has happened rather than undertake the time consuming investigation to figure out what happened.

I am going to show a few of the collisions captured on the CCTV network. The intention is not to provide shock and awe, but we do advise that some viewers may find some of this footage disturbing, as this shows some motorists being hurt.

CCTV footage of collisions on Bermuda's roads.

I would encourage everyone watching this footage to consider the following 3 points:

1.         How quickly the collisions happened.

2.         How each collision was avoidable

3.         How each collision occurred because of a bad decision.