The following is a letter to Walter Roban, the Minister of Transport and Regulatory Affairs

Dear Mr Roban,

I thought I should make time to congratulate you on your conduct of this ministry to date — all very impressive to me.

As you may be aware, I am the deputy chairman of Gorham’s, which is the lead sponsor now of the Drive for Change initiative of The Royal Gazette. Thus we were delighted at Gorham’s with your comments in the House accompanying the introduction of roadside sobriety testing.

We believe it is possible to change the driving culture in Bermuda with a series of initiatives, including more police on the roads, sobriety testing and, later on, speed cameras.

The roads have been a free-for-all for decades now and the result is that there are a large number of speed addicts who have no regard for their own lives or others. Why all previous ministers have been unable to do what you have done in such a short time since taking office is beyond me.

I personally implored the One Bermuda Alliance government to take some action and pass sobriety testing with no effect at all.

Since the issues on the roads and speed limits have been ignored for such a long time, I would recommend a kind of amnesty or period where speeders are warned to stop speeding rather than be fined or taken off the road. If they do not heed the warning and are caught again, there would be more serious consequences. We do not want to go from such a long period of benign neglect to draconian measures overnight.

I was also very impressed with your comments about the problems that bus operators have experienced for such a long time without resolution. Obviously, what is needed most here is a person in charge who will listen and then create a plan that is transparent and will address the issues over time.

I am sure the issues are complicated and, therefore, the most important thing is trust and communication.

You will be amused to hear that I knew you when you were a little boy living in Warwick. Matthew and Charlotte, they were together at the time and I was a candidate running for the United Bermuda Party in 1976. They were both UBP supporters at the time and must be amazed at what you have accomplished to date — as am I.

On a more general note, I would urge you to encourage your more radical Cabinet ministers, such as Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, to tone down their racial rhetoric. There is no need for this any more.

The Progressive Labour Party is in charge of island affairs now and need to focus on the real issues that will make lives for all of our people better, rather than getting distracted with the sins of the past that divide us and keep us from working together on our common challenges.

Chairman

Kitson Group