Man In Critical Condition Following Collision
[Updated] As of 7.00am this morning [Jan 7], police are advising motorists to avoid the South Road and Cobbs Hill Road areas in Paget, as there are traffic delays due to a collision on South Road by the junction of Tribe Road 4B. The collision involves two motorcycles, and while further details are limited at this time, we will update as able.
Update 8.22am: A police spokesperson said, “At 5.45am today [Jan 7], police and first responders attended a report of a two vehicle collision that resulted in serious injury on South Road in Paget near the junction with Tribe Road 4B.”
“It appears that two motorcycles were traveling in opposite directions when they collided. Both riders, a 22-year-old Warwick man and 69-year-old Warwick man, were taken to the hospital via ambulance.
“Police are appealing to persons who may have witnessed this collision to contact PC Clyke On 295-0011.”
Update 8.24am: The road has now reopened.
Update 11.59am: The police said the 22 year old Warwick man is listed in critical condition in the ICU, while the 69 year old Devonshire man is in stable condition with an arm injury. The full police statement is below
Around 5:45am on Wednesday, January 7th first responders attended a reported two vehicle collision that resulted in serious injury on South Road in Paget near the junction with Tribe Road No. 4B. It appears that two motorcycles were travelling in opposite directions when they collided.
Both injured riders, a 22 year old Warwick man and a 69 year old Devonshire man, were taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital via ambulance for treatment.
At last check the Warwick man was listed in critical condition at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit while the Devonshire man was apparently in stable condition with an arm injury.
Inquiries are ongoing and police are appealing for persons who may have witnessed this collision to contact Constable Stephen Clyke at the main police telephone number 295-0011.
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Category: Accidents and fires, All, News
This is getting to be a little too much! Why can’t people just slow the hell down man…
Where does it say anyone was speeding….man?
I hope that both riders are ok. Does anyone else find it weird that we are having so many two motorcycle accidents these days??
Pretty typical right after the Christmas/NY holiday.
Another? Wow.
I wish them a quick recovery.
Slow down bike riders and pay attention
Governors on bikes to limit speed to a maximum of 50 kph. Severe penalties for tampering. It is the only way. No amount of pleading or education will stop the speeding which is, along with alcohol, the biggest reason for crashes.
I don’t think limiting freedoms is the answer….
Our freedoms are not unlimited. Speed limits restrict our freedom to drive recklessly fast. Governors on bikes simply help to enforce the law.
hell noo why should we all have to suffer for a few peoples irresponsible driving habits. thats like saying lets remove junk food from our diets because too many people are dying from heart disease.
Unless you break the law by speeding, a governor will not cause you to suffer anything.
Another day, another tragedy on our roads. “Slow down Bermuda” clearly does not work – the “invincible” mentality is too pervasive in our culture. Too many lives have already been ruined or lost. Let’s work together to use these tragedies to prevent future devastation on our roads, so at least these people will not have suffered or died in vain. How about the following?
1. An ad campaign that lists each of our serious road deaths/injuries, their age, their status (paralysed/brain damage/dead), the estimated speed that they or the person who hit them was going, any alcohol or drugs involved in the collision, and preferably before and after photos. No, it won’t be pretty, but hopefully it will help to get the message across that no one is invincible.
2. Publicise the findings of collision enquiries so that everyone else can learn from others’ mistakes. How did each collision happen? We never seem to find out, other than hearsay, yet we could all benefit from such information. Is there particular care that I need to take at that junction? Is there a particular driving habit that I should avoid or that I should watch out for in other road users? Is there an issue with that stretch of road that is going to be addressed?
3. Impose the strictest penalties for high speeds and reckless driving, particularly for repeat offenders. Increase fines, increase time off the road, confiscate vehicles and ban people for life or have mandatory jail time when an individual is caught driving while banned. These individuals are not only a threat to themselves, but to all other road users. We have been complacent long enough.
My sincerest condolences to the family and friends. I hope that both individuals make a full recovery.
Words are easy. How are you going to install governors on bikes that don’t have any gears? Even if possible, how are you going to stop whatever it is from being removed? Why should the majority, who do not ride like maniacs, have to pay extra because of those who cannot operate a simple twist gas handle?
Governors are a complete non starter.
The only way to slow the traffic is to introduce vehicles which, as built from the factory, are slower. There does not seem to be much support for such vehicles.
The easiest way to make people slow down is to put out the radar cop. This will lead to people being more aware their speedometer and at the same time put money into the bank to help pay off some of this ridiculous debt! Wow that’s lots and lots of easy money that just speeding along down the street!
Don’t forget Marijuana and other drugs as well. They all play a part.
what? You ever drive high? lol. You start thinking the Man’s on every turn. Trust…you do that **** careful as ****!!
So if 2 bikes hit each other at 50k no one is going to get hurt? Not the answer…
Just a thought and it may sound dumb but is the speed limit to slow? I mean, think about it. I and many other riders only over take when traffic is going tooo slow. Maybe setting the limit a little higher would reduce the over taking which coincides with accidents.
Most cars will travel at a minimum of 50kmh; it is highly atypicaly for people to do 35k or 40k in a car these days. Therefore, if you feel the need on your bike to pass a car doing 50k, then the problem is solely with you! Totally unnecessary. It’s gets you to your destination like 5 minutes faster…really?
The only time when cars would be going slow enough to warrant passing is during times of ‘traffic’. In such times, the speed limit being 35k is moot…it could be 100k and the fact is, there is still traffic. Traffic is not caused by our speed limit. It is a function of the number of vehicles all trying to get to the same place at the same time. If the speed limit were 100k, you’d still be stuck in morning traffic from the west.
The last part of the year 2014 went out with death on our roads, and the beginning of 2015 has begun tragically with more deaths on our roads, In spite of the warnings some still think they are invincible,and what this Island needs right now is a higher power that can only be found in prayer, some will call it be a fanatic and others may say people just need to use common sense. I say when all else fails call on Jesus, we need this madness to stop. so if we don’t see the warnings being heeded or don’t really know what the true answer is, go to the one who created us all, He has the blue print.Our Prayers are for all who are effected by the tragedy’s of death and also included in the cases of those who are in critical condition, more so the families who lost their loved ones who have more questions then answers.The pain and the grief is to much to bare whenever anyone is taking in what would seem to be from life to soon.Let us deal with the reality of our actions and behaviors but also remember those who are greatly effected by our actions and behaviors, when we leave them to pick up the pieces of shattering their lives.This is real talk from the heart and in no way am I trying to be insensitive to anyone.
Prayer may be useful for those who need guidance, consoling or have a belief in its meditative qualities; however Bermuda still requires concrete, tangible solutions to the on-going issues with road safety. No reason why we can’t have both, of course.
Is anyone really surprised??? I’m amazed there aren’t more……
I believe that there are two factors that will greatly assist:
1. Improve the standard of the Bermuda driving examination, especially the “joke” of a written test. In Germany for instance it takes about 14 classes to learn all of the rules of the road etc. and then you must pass the exam prior to taking a series of mandatory driving lessons pertaining to vehicle handling etc. before you take your test. It takes them between 3 months to a year to get a licence.
2. If someone loses their licence, then following their period of suspension they should have to retake the lessons and re-pass the test described above to regain their licence.
Why you might ask? see below death rates per 100,000 population.
UK 4.8
Germany 5.7
USA 13.9
Bermuda 25 (same approx as Rwanda, Afghanistan, Libya, Gabon & Benin).
The solution is not increasing penalties. The laws, as they stand, are adequate with the exception of an unreasonable speed limit. Everyone knows the rules, but everyone also knows the rules can easily be broken without fear of retribution.
The solution is to step up enforcement. The accidental and occasional law-breaker will not suffer unreasonable punishment but the habitual offender will need to alter behaviors or suffer repeat and escalating punishment and eventually be suspended from driving.
And the speed limit needs to be set to something reasonable and perhaps variable depending on location and then enforced.
While I am not talking specifically about any one accident and I certainly don’t mean to sound callous but a considerable amount of the damage and death is brought about by those same individuals making very bad choices.
No amount of statements no matter who they come from will make a difference.
No amount of speed control will stop a motorcyclist driving in the middle of the lane of the oncoming traffic basically daring them to hit them.
No speed control will stop motorists in general passing on blind corners or 4+ vehicles at time.
Other behaviors contributing bad decisions are those motorists who seem to believe it is their duty to hold up a major thoroughfare by allowing a minor road exodus of multiple vehicles rather than a merge type movement of allowing one vehicle through and following on allowing others to do the same and traffic continues to flow. The former only aggravates the frustration of others and this can lead to bad decisions. The motorist who must stop in the middle of a major thoroughfare and talk to someone who then stands in the middle of the road to talk to the driver.
The broken pane syndrome is what seem to cause this escalation in bad driving behavior.
People who park on sidewalks, on double yellow lines and police drive by with no consequences because it is too much work for aggravation.
People who have unlawful license plates because TCD or police provide no consequences. Motorcycles pass traffic at a stop light effectively running the light and even if the vehicle is a BPS car there are no consequences. Motorcyclists ride with incorrectly coloured lights and cover the license plates. Cyclists ride at night with no lights or reflectors and wear dark clothing. This is currently being copied by children and it is only a matter of time until this becomes a tragic reality.
When small things are ignored then two things happen 1) people who normally would not participate realize there are no consequences and they start and 2) those who started go further and as it continues escalating until…………..well we see where goes don’t we.
As long as we make decisions based on what is popular or path of least resistance we will not make inroads.
Speed is not the problem(bare with please…). The problem is the inability to operate at the speed that they are driving due to inexperience, impairement or road(including surface) conditions.
it would be a great source of revenue to book everybody speeding. Realistically the police and the courts cannot sustain that and the problem will persist because most of the law breakers (speeders) are not the ones paying the fines,friends and families are.
One way to help is introducing ” Motorcycle Riding School”. An updgrade to project Ride. Mandate that everyone attends a recognised riding school where they spend some time improving their riding and awareness in a controlled environment and on the road, then they get their motorcycle license.if you dont want it then stick to your lawn mower(50 CC).
here’s a business idea for someone…or the government.
and P.S… stop giving those tourists who have never riden before those rentals.You can’t rent a car or a bike anywhere in the world without a license for that claass of vehicle, why continue to do it here?
Don’t even worry about the tourists, they are not the ones getting into the serious collisions..because they drive, here it comes, SLOWLY..probably because they know their biggest danger is the locals riding around like lunatics lol…
it is a very sad moment for Bermuda, as mostly of the people who died are so young and never start their life yet!
I propose the following: when I was 16 years old in France the license for bike was so expensive, something like $ 3.000 and over because of the lessons and the written test was almost impossible to get it on the first time. so we had to wait until age 21 to get a bike!
raise the licenses for young people and make it harder to get it.
save life by be more strict.
just an advise
bless you all
JC
My thoughts go out to this young man.
And what about the innocent victim here???
NOT AGAIN!!! This is becoming an “epidemic” on the Island!! Much tougher traffic laws are necessary!!
Why should “innocent” road users be subjected to this type of behavior???