Mandatory testing for auxiliary cycle riders could be on its way if MPs agree to a bill to go before the House in the autumn.

Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess said teenagers would have to pass written and practical tests or participate in a training course before riding mopeds.

He said it was "ludicrous'' that young people were able to ride motorbikes for two years before they could apply for a driver's licence.

"It has never been looked at,'' he said.

Visitors, however, would be exempted from taking the test. At present, cycle livery owners exercise their discretion and refuse to rent out bikes to people judged as unsafe drivers.

The announcement came on the heels of a Police report that a 57-year-old visitor from Massachusetts was treated for a broken thigh after the motor bike on which she was a passenger smashed into the car in front.

The accident which took place on Middle Road near Granaway Heights yesterday morning occurred when the car in front braked suddenly and the woman was thrown to the ground.

Just after midnight yesterday morning, a 21-year-old Pembroke man broke his leg after a car travelling along Court Street turned into Dundonald Street and struck the man travelling on a motor cycle in the opposite direction.

Police say the driver of the car, a 50-year-old Warwick woman is likely to be charged with driving without due care.

And a 35-year-old Pink Beach Club waitress remains in critical condition at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after she was involved in a serious accident on Harrington Sound Road on Thursday.

The accident was the most recent in a spate of serious accidents, five of which have resulted in death.

Last year Bermuda's roads claimed 11 lives and was the third successive year in which traffic accidents increased. In 1993 seven people died on the roads.

Transport Ministry statistics released last week revealed June road traffic accidents were among the highest on record.

While accidents in June leapt by more than 23 percent over the same month last year, accidents resulting in serious injury doubled.

"That is alarming. That is something to look at,'' Transport Ministry Road Safety Officer Mrs. Laura Smith said yesterday.

Mr. Burgess admitted he had not yet seen the statistics and could offer no comment.

But, he said, the current increases were unacceptable.

"We can't continue to have it increasing,'' he said. "We will be implementing some schemes to get the numbers down.'' Reports pinpointing reasons behind the glut of accidents have yet to be completed, but the biggest increases are among locals.

Former Road Safety Council chairman Mr. Ramadhin Smith yesterday called for beefed up road safety campaigns.

Mr. Smith also called for the implementation in all schools of Project Ride, which teaches the rules of the road and safe driving.

Although young people have been singled out for blame, Mrs. Laura Smith said accidents are fairly evenly distributed across all age groups with the highest proportion in the 30 to 40 age group.

Accidents among teenagers and young adults were not more prevalent than in other age groups, Mrs. Smith said.

Instead, the average age of people involved in accidents was rising with an ageing population and presently rests at 34.

Mrs. Smith said speed did not feature as one of the main causes of collisions which were most commonly due to lack of attention, tailgating or entering main roads carelessly.