Police have more than doubled the amount of convictions secured for people driving without due care and attention in a one-month period as part of a push to make Bermuda’s roads safer.

Close to $30,000 worth of fines and 370 demerit points were dished out in yesterday’s one-hour traffic court session to those who had committed related offences — mostly third laning — in the past month.

Third laning is when a driver overtakes while there is oncoming traffic, in many cases causing other road users to swerve or brake to avoid collision. The traffic code permits overtaking in certain conditions, but never when there is opposing traffic.

Out of the 50 people facing charges in court yesterday, most were for third laning while a handful of people answered other traffic offences. Each person who pleaded guilty for driving without due care and attention received no less than $800 and ten demerit points — the minimal penalty for the offence.

Those who pleaded not guilty have been given court dates and, if found guilty, will face harsher penalties and have more points stripped from their licence.

Some defendants explain their circumstances but the standard response was the same from magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo: $800 and ten demerit points. One man was banned from riding a cycle for four months as he already had active points.

It comes as Bermuda Police Service aims to raise awareness of Bermuda’s “irresponsible driving culture, the damage it causes and the harsh penalties attached to not paying proper attention”.

Statistics show that, while drink drivers and speeders may grab the headlines on a daily basis, it is those driving without due care and attention that cause the most collisions on Bermuda’s roads.

Inspector Robert Cardwell has consolidated certain traffic offences in single court sessions to help to highlight the frequency and severity of the problems related to each offence.

He explained that police are currently focusing on inattention on the roads.

Mr Cardwell told The Royal Gazette: “This is how the police are starting to tackle due care and attention offences which contribute mostly to the collisions we deal with.

“The kind of thing we are looking at is third laning, cutting people off, inappropriate overtaking. We want to let the public know that we are out there and we are looking at. You see it every day on the roads — any given day you get on the roads and you see really bad driving behaviour. We are there.”

Speaking on why the cases were all heard in one session, Mr Cardwell said: “The frequency of these offences gets lost when they appear in court sporadically and so we wanted to send a strong message and we are policing these offences.”

Many of the offences heard in traffic court yesterday were committed during congested, rush-hour traffic, with Front Street and Paget traffic lights mentioned on numerous occasions.

Most who offered an explanation were still booked.

One man said the truck in front of him was not loaded properly and he was getting hit by pebbles. While Mr Tokunbo admitted some trucks could be a “nuisance”, he maintained that you are still responsible for driving safely and not overtaking illegally.

One woman caused an oncoming vehicle to swerve out of her way as she attempted to overtake driving onto the opposite side of the road.

Mr Cardwell added: “In Bermuda we have a bad attitude or a bad driving culture and culture takes a very long time to change.

“We are losing a lot of lives on the roads. We are trying to reduce serious injury and fatality collisions but it is not happening and we inch backwards and creep further ahead — we are trying so many different methods to calm down the roads.

“The Road Safety Council and CADA are messaging through various means, the police have been in the schools we have hit every 15 and 16-year-old with a road safety presentation for the last two years. Our intention is to make a meaningful impact reducing the levels of collisions we are suffering.

“We all know that third laning, we all know the fear that we all suffer when we are driving along and have to swerve and watch them. The third lane does not exist. Leave home earlier and make allowances for traffic. Pay attention to what you are doing — driving and riding become so routine that we put the key in the ignition and don’t think about it but we are driving a lethal weapon.”

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