Minister Announces Road Safety Working Group

April 1, 2015

The Minister of Tourism and Transport Shawn Crockwell today [Apr 1] announced the new Road Safety Working Group to address the safety issues on our roads.

“The Minister had committed to leading this initiative during the recent Road Safety Summit and to draw on expertise from a cross-section of residents both inside and outside of Government,” a spokesperson said,

“Currently there are five government agencies that have committed resources to the Working Group including: The Bermuda Police Service, The Ministry of Public Works – Highways Section, The Health Department, The Transport Control Department and the Ministry of Education.”

“It is expected that the first meeting of the working Group will be held before the end of April when the terms of reference and objectives will be confirmed, said Minister Crockwell.

“Additionally, to ensure that the Working Group is balanced, representation has been made to the private sector in the form of our Motor Insurers and of course the Ministry also plans to have our younger generations represented”.

“I am thankful for the service of these representatives and I look forward to the progress of the work and reporting back to the public.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Arai Joell-Johnston, who lost his life last night in a road collision, my prayers are with them as they deal with their loss and grief.”

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Category: Accidents and fires, All, News, Politics

Comments (14)

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  1. What went wrong says:

    And there goes the OBA with another knee jerk reaction.

    What happened to the #longhastagcampaignbythebps?

    • Barracuda says:

      I agree it is knee jerk , like the cops all over the roads today, but what would you do as a Government? If the Government had ignored this story , would you have ?

      • PBanks says:

        They should have been doing something all through February and March, but they didn’t, so they all deserve to take some heat for their inaction.

  2. Raymond Ray says:

    On behalf of my family I take this opportunity to extend our condolences to the family of Aroi Joell-Johnson, our / Bermudas latest road fatality. I want to also extend our deepest sympathies to all them that have over the countless years loss a family member/s due to traffic accidents.

  3. Reality Check says:

    Tens of thousands of people travel the roads every day without incident , yet every single time there is a serious accident the politicians make some big production about fixing a non existent problem . Give it a rest !

  4. Micro says:

    To what end? We already have the Road Safety Council, CADA, and numerous other groups, who have done an absolutely stellar job…

    Increased traffic policing, speed cameras, maybe even start chipping vehicles to analyse driving habits with safe drivers receiving discounts on their insurance, improved road lighting and surface conditions, enforcing or writing encroachment legislation and fining property owners with vegetation obstructing roadways.

    All this talk about making roads safer and absolutely nothing has been done.

  5. Varied says:

    Whatever, Crockwell.
    Why are our politicians so reactive?

    And for what? To call more meetings?

  6. Triangle Drifter says:

    This is not about politics. Seems some of you expect the Minister to put on a uniform & get out there & patrol.

    It is about one of the largest per capita, best equipped, police forces in the world not functioning. What ARE they doing? They have recently been equipped with 1300cc bikes. 1300cc!!!!!! Big heavy things capable of missile acceleration but don’t stand a chance catching some bye on his scooter dipping through traffic. Just one example of waste & sheer stupidity. Oh, but they look good on those bike don’t they. We don’t have a Premier who wants a police motorcycle escort anymore.

  7. chip says:

    Any more real bright ideas ? Shawn

  8. Jeremy Deacon says:

    This is not knee-jerk …. this is in response to the reckless driving habits on our roads as much as the incredible toll of deaths on our roads.
    For those with short memories this initiative was also started at the beginning of this year – not just now.
    My hope (also my fear) is that this organization does not get wrapped up in civil service red tape and that it actually has teeth to actually do something
    If it is another talking shop then nothing will be solved and nothing will be changed.
    I would hope that it is chaired by someone outside the civil service and has a strong membership of non-civil servants as well.
    If the murder on our roads (https://jeremydeacon.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/murder-on-our-roads/)is to be stopped this group needs to active and public about its solutions.

  9. PBanks says:

    “It is expected that the first meeting of the working Group will be held before the end of April when the terms of reference and objectives will be confirmed”

    Wow. Potentially a whole month will go by at which point they’ll come up with terms and objectives.

    The amount of inertia when it comes to dealing with road safety issues is simply amazing.

  10. somuchless says:

    Another group????? Politricks. Always trying to score points but they never do anything seriously to help the people.

    • Triangle Drifter says:

      Maybe you would like members of this group to drive you around wherever, whenever you would like to go so that you will not have to take responsibilty for your own bad driving habits.

      With a little care & COURTESY Bermuda driving should not be difficult at all.

      It is not like we drive large vehicles at high speeds on county roads with no shoulders, drive on open plains or mountain passes with high winds, have extreme heat, long grades or ice & snow to deal with.

      Face it, too many of us have little clue of how to drive. Worse, they don’t care. Nobody matters but themselves. Exampe, not even 2 hours ago.

      Arrived Lindos, Devonshire & watched a driver pull into a clearly marked handicapped spot. When advised as being such the response was a toothsucking “So what”. Came out of the store to find another car that had done a one up of the first car. This one, with children in it, was parked straddling BOTH handicapped spots.

      Sorry I did not take note of the numbers otherwise & would have listed them.

      Simple examples of poor selfish driving habits.