Traffic Enforcement: Unlicensed/Uninsured Vehicles

Sun, 2005-07-17

The use of unlicensed and uninsured vehicles on our roads is a perennial problem for the Bermuda Police Service. Usually, when officers came across an offence of this nature, a ticket or tickets were issued and then the offender was allowed to drive away with their summons or summonses; the expired license certificate still displayed in the window. This will no longer occur.

Section 19 of the Motor Car (Examination, Licensing and Registration) Regulations 1952 states;

A motor car license shall always be carried in the motor car in respect of which it is issued when the motor car is in use, and shall be produced for inspection on demand by a Police officer or traffic officer.

Section 19 gives the Police the authority to take possession of license certificates. Therefore in future, any time a motor vehicle is stopped displaying an expired license certificate, that certificate will be seized as an exhibit. The certificate will then be attached to the ticket and submitted as evidence to prove the charge. The license certificate does not belong to the registered owner of a vehicle; it is actually the property of the Bermuda Government.

This only refers to cars, vans, trucks or other four wheeled vehicles, because the license certificate on motorcycles and auxiliary cycles is secured to the license plate by adhesive.


Fatal Industrial Accident

The Bermuda Police Service can now confirm the death of 39 year old Joseph Pacheco of Devonshire. Around 12 noon today, Police responded to a report of an industrial accident that took place on farmland adjacent to Watlington Road. On arrival officers saw a tractor turned over in a ditch at the eastern end of the field, with the 39 year old man pinned underneath. With the assistance of workers on the property the tractor was raised, and EMTs performed life saving measures on the victim. He was then transported to KEMH where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The Bermuda Police Service extends its sincere condolences to the Pacheco family.