Good morning,
The Ministry of Transport is pleased to announce the launch of the Road Safety Plan 2018.
I am pleased to be joined today by The Hon. Wayne Caines, Minister of National Security, Chairman of The Bermuda Road Safety Council, Dennis Lister and Transport Control Department Road Safety Officer, David Minors.
Welcome gentlemen.
The issue of Road Safety is a consistent problem for the island of Bermuda. Thousands of road users annually are involved in avoidable traffic collisions due to speeding, drunk-driving, and carelessness on our roads.
Without question, this Government is extremely concerned with the amount of road collisions that have occurred over the past few years.
Just last year, one thousand two hundred and forty (1,240) road-traffic collisions were reported to the Bermuda Police Service, with 64 resulting in serious injury and 15 being fatal.
With the introduction of the Road Safety Plan, it is our aim to introduce measures which will bring awareness, shape behavior and yield safer road conditions for all motorists.
The Road Safety Plan 2018, entitled Operation Caution, has been created as a tool to introduce aggressive initiatives and policies aimed at combating the issue of road collisions in a systematic and collaborative way.
The Road Safety Plan 2018 features a 2-tiered approach:
- Phase 1 includes public awareness through a series of town hall meetings;
- And phase 2, which will be the substantive portion of the plan, seeks to curb unsafe road behaviors through the education of good road safety practices.
This strategy includes input gathered from focus groups and stakeholders. We also researched other jurisdictions that have faced similar problems.
Through the implementation of the Road Safety Plan 2018, it is our goal, as the Ministry of Transport and Regulatory Affairs and the Government of Bermuda, to create safer roads and a safer Bermuda.
I will now turn it over to Road Safety Officer David Minors who will provide an overview of the key features of this plan.
Thank you.