586 Deaths On Bermuda’s Roads Since 1962
Statistics released by the Bermuda Police Service show that Bermuda has lost 586 people to road collisions since 1962, with the worst year being 1975, where 26 people died as a result of road collisions.
Last year, the island recorded 16 road fatalities, and this year has started out on a similarly grim note, with two people dying due to road collisions in the first two weeks of 2015.
At a press conference yesterday, Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell said the Government is planning a Road Safety Summit, and are considering three legislative changes to help improve road safety; implementing roadside sobriety testing, exploring the use of speed cameras, and possibly “beefing up various fines.”
Road traffic fatalities since 1962:
- 1962: 16
- 1963: 7
- 1964: 3
- 1965: 7
- 1966: 13
- 1967: 8
- 1968: 21
- 1969: 17
- 1970: 24
- 1971: 13
- 1972: 18
- 1973: 19
- 1974: 12
- 1975: 26
- 1976: 11
- 1977: 8
- 1978: 6
- 1979: 10
- 1980: 8
- 1981: 11
- 1982: 12
- 1983: 17
- 1984: 5
- 1985: 10
- 1986: 7
- 1987: 8
- 1988: 5
- 1989: 15
- 1990: 13
- 1991: 5
- 1992: 6
- 1993: 7
- 1994: 11
- 1995: 7
- 1996: 4
- 1997: 7
- 1998: 17
- 1999: 10
- 2000: 6
- 2001: 11
- 2002: 2
- 2003: 10
- 2004: 7
- 2005: 13
- 2006: 14
- 2007: 11
- 2008: 17
- 2009: 13
- 2010: 13
- 2011: 9
- 2012: 9
- 2013: 9
- 2014: 16
- 2015: 2
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Category: Accidents and fires, All, News
Interesting numbers but how do they compare with a similar population number with a very high density of cycles on the roads & similar speed limits, i.e. an urban area?
Also how they trend with Bermuda’s population over time. At a glance it might be that fatalities per capita have reduced.
Also there are fewer police on the roads now then years ago (I drove all the way to Dockyard and back and saw 0), yet average fatalities seems to be pretty consistent since helmets were made mandatory.
I’m sorry. These proposed changes are not going to reduce road deaths.
Agreed. People still continue to drive recklessly.
This morning some fool in a red Opel station wagon overtook 3 cars, me included, along kindley field road doing about 70k. Unfortunately for him, he got no further than those three cars for the rest of his journey in to town, and i ended up right behind him by the time we got to Barkers hill.
What we need is a change of attitude. Does all this reckless driving that is going on make the drivers feel better about themselves? Impatience? Or simply just that they do not care? I would rather be living, than get to work 5 minutes earlier driving like a bat out of hell!
Speaking of overtaking……………………..A little fun fact, most people in Bermuda do not even realize that overtaking is illegal!
The yellow line means no parking at anytime whereas the white lines means you can park. People seem to confuse these lines with where you can or cannot overtake. Even the police seem to not realize this simple road rule and therefore should ticket every motorist that overtakes. Now that would make at least some difference, don’t you think?
Better than doing nothing
That’s right. More fines. More people in trouble with the law. More harassment of honest motorists. Sorry, we were talking about road safety, right?
Very sad for all
Seems all is normal … No need for policy changes
Obviously there are different factors involved each year, depending on how many are single vehicle accidents, tourists, drunk driving etc… But it does go to show you the 70′s were far more dangerous than the roads now, for what ever reason. So the excuse that Bermuda’s roads are too crowded and vehicles are too large and powerful is incorrect, seeing how the 70′s had less and smaller vehicles.
Remember GTA, in those years there was no mandatory helmet law, for starters.
We probably need additional figures on non-fatal colissions, including ones that resulted in major injury, to get a better handle on trends.
In most countries, much of the decline in fatalities since the 1970s is due to safer cars.
Also remember that crash helmets where not required or worn by the motorbike population in general so that will account in the increased numbers back then. Mandatory helmet use started in Bermuda in 1976
so what the heck was going on in 1975……wow
How about 2002!
I wonder when they increased the CC to its current level from 100 CC,also when did 16 year old rules change from mopeds to motorcycles.
I do recall that we were 150 cc in the 70′s and law changed to bring it down to single cylinder 100 cc.
It might be a good way to understand the stats and how and when road laws changed it changed road deaths. Maybe lowering cc again and making mopeds the law again would help.Also making our tourists go back to mopeds.(How many deaths were tourists or military).
I’m also sorry, but if one looks at the average deaths over those 53 years (11.1) and then looks at the past 10 years (12.4), something has changed. Could it be the continued increase in cell phone dependency, texting, sorrowful drug/alcohol use? Parenting taking a backseat to life’s ‘new’ pressures? Wake up people. Drive safely and enjoy the ride without gawking at our beautiful scenery.
It’s all about attitudes.
Shalom.
I mentioned attitudes ^.
Amazing how posts can overlap when none have been posted.
Legislation will not work, people have to change their mindset.
Changing the fines won’t work.
Changing the speed limit won’t work.
Changing the drunk drive limit won’t work.
Changing motorcycle capacity won’t work.
Police actually enforcing the laws we have – might work.
People obeying the laws we have – might work.
Bermudians not seeing drunk driving as a sport – might work.
As a youngster, just the threat of being caught speeding or drunk driving was enough for my and my mates to obey the law.
What happened to the Cycle Squad? Sargeant Scotland, PC Johnson, Boxhead Foggo, and many many more. We were scared of these guys!!
Nowadays, you can pretty well speed wherever and whenever you like and not get stopped. If you do get stopped you will probably only get a slap on the wrist.
Example” Kindley Field road if you do less than 40 mph you will be overtaken every time guaranteed.
Bring back the mandatory 3 years off de road for more than 40 mph – and the threat of jail for getting caught riding while disqualified. It worked for me and all my mates too! But what do i know?
That lot used to herd us all around on a Sunday evening. Hardly ever got any racing done. Life was tougher without cellphones to keep track of who was where.
Jail costs money… give them cat-o-nine-tails and a day in the stocks for disqualified driving.
Nothing to bring back.
Still on the books.
A solution to the speeding:
1) All bikes GPS’d
2) All data put through map my run type software
3) Automatic Time distance calculations made .
4) IF exceed the speed limit (on avg) for a journey then get fined
$200 automatically from your bank account. An an email automatically notifying you of such offence and fine.
A few times of this happening and you will either take public transport or slow down.
You will no longer lend your bike to friends.
Data can be given to police too, so they can immediately call up who was where, in a time range, and on what date , which will help them narrow down whereabouts and who’s when a crime is committed and also allow then to access full records for those bikes, track down stolen bikes.
But people will just remove the gp’s dots…..????
Police do random scans on bikes parked in town and through major road arteries. If you are not GPS’d then your bike is taken and you have to pay $500 on the spot, and $100 to recover it from a GPS’s police depot.
@ hmmm,
Just what we all want, Big Brother watching our every move. How Orwellian of you.
Big brother is better than a dead brother.
Just say no to speed cameras!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob Richards might not find this to be accurate.
2002…what where the safety measures used during that time??
This was just after 9/11… the world had a heightened sense of the value of human life!
The Government have not figured out what the root of the problem is.
You can not get respect if you do not give it.
The people are Angry at all of you, they manifest that Anger on the streets by showing total disregard and run the gauntlet.
Your choice ” The Feather or the Hammer & Sickle”.
Traffic fines are a catch 22 revenue, a way to make a quick buck .
Eg : $24M + / – for a Golf course.
: Third world roads.
*********Money does not grow on trees**********
The issue is that the cars sold in Bermuda are just not safe. Because of the size requirements and safety features are not required for cars sold here. Look at a New B sized Chevy Spark, in the United States the car has 10 Airbags, Stability Control as standard. Cars sold in Bermuda are made for developing countries where price is a huge concern. Bermuda’s government needs to mandate front and side airbags and a stability control system we are a first world country and allowing C Class cars like a Golf or Focus would increase the safety, they have the latest collision mitigation systems. A new Golf or Focus can automatically stop if it senses a collision is going to happen, we are banned from having those safety features or any safety features at all because of government regulation.
Must be the old school in me having learned to drive in a car that did not even have hydraulic brakes, never mind stuff like seat belts, airbags, power windows, even a power ventilation system.
It was a car that needed fulltime attention.
It was a car that had severe limitations compared to todays vehicles which are almost idiot proof. Almost idiot proof. Seems like we have a bunch of idiots sitting behind the wheel doing all kinds of things besides driving.
At our speeds & our size island we don’t need cars designed to protect us from ourselves at 100k. The people getting killed, the people getting injured are the cycle riders.
The bikes are far safer than they were years ago but they still have 2 wheels. They are nowhere near idiot proof. The walls, the trees & the utility poles are just as hard as they ever were when a human body throws itself up against them.
Police presence on the road is KEY!
When their presence disappeared years ago everyone started going a little faster. The average speed used to be 50k and now it is at least 60k. Bikes overtake you whether you are doing 50 or 60k because the mindset is I must be in front. With the wider cars on the road the third lane has become narrower automatically and because people are driving wider cars they are driving closer to the yellow line because they are afraid their mirrors are going to hit the wall especially on Harbour Road. Riding in the third lane is now like playing Russian Roulette in other words you may or may not kill yourself if you take that risk. I am not innocent to speeding as I found myself averaging over 60k however, after getting 2 speeding tickets a couple years ago for the first time in about 25 years I now try to go no faster than 50k or 30mph. We need a police presence handing out speeding tickets which will gradually slow people down. We need to eliminate the third lane by making it illegal to overtake anything other than a parked car on the side of the road. Stopped cars in traffic are NOT PARKED! We need random breathalyzer checks every day morning and night. I was in another country a couple years ago and we were stopped and checked at about 11am on the way to play golf and stopped again four hours later on the way home on the same stretch of road! The first stop was a deterrent to drink not that we planned to. We also need the police presence to stop driving through stop signs and red lights and the use of cell phones while driving or riding! ONE road fatality is too many and if we continue this year the way we have started we will end up with 52 (one per week) if not more! Do any of us want that to happen? The police need to do their part NOW not later whether the money is there or not. We the road users need to do our part and slow down and obey the rules of the road. Speak to your family and friends and tell them you love them and do not want to lose them due to a preventable death on our narrow roads. I am going to do my part and I challenge you to do yours.
The main reason there are so many deaths and injuries is because of the terrible driving habits of Bermudians — and the bizarre acceptance of daily carnage on the roads. It is appalling. There are marches and protests about all kinds of issues but you see no outrage concerning the loss of life and limb associated with getting around this island.
In terms of statistics and data, it would be more interesting to see the possible cause of death in the stats, i.e. alcohol, speeding, inattention due to cell phone, reckless, faulty vehicle, etc… I mean, the most deaths occurred in 1975, what changed in that year… more bikes or increase in the number of cars? One sided data doesn’t give the entire picture. Give a statistician (or a really smart person) all of the data for analysis so that intelligent decisions can be made.
Unfortunately it won’t get any better – probably worse the way a lot of these “maniacs” perform!! The usual suspects….Speeding, intoxication (booze & drugs) and the favourite – reckless driving will NOT diminish!! Some folks just refuse to see the “common sense” of it all!!
And of course there will be a lot more funerals to attend – and the usual finger-pointing!!
ALL VERY AVOIDABLE – IF YOU USE GOOD COMMON SENSE!!