Teenagers could soon be forced to take a tough course in road safety before they are allowed to get an auxiliary cycle licence.

And a top civil servant claims that money spent on training teachers to carry out the Project Ride course of instruction to their students has been wasted -- because pupils cannot be bothered to take the course.

Last night, Transport Control Department director Donald Dane confirmed that he had discussed the issue with Transport Minister Ewart Brown and suggested the Project Ride scheme be made compulsory.

The scheme, which ran into trouble two years ago, puts students through a 15-hour course in which they learn how to handle a cycle, are told about road safety and learn the highway code.

The course is completed over several weeks in the students' own time with a school teacher providing both the practical and theory classes.

But while some schools have no problem in encouraging their students to take part, Mr. Dane argues that too few students from certain schools are attending.

And he added that CedarBridge students had been banned from turning up at TCD to take their test unless they had booked an appointment. "Basically there are two schools which are working very hard on Project Ride -- Saltus and the Berkeley Institute,'' Mr. Dane said.

"But I am very disappointed in CedarBridge. They have four Project Ride instructors and they seem to do very little. We have also forbidden students from coming here during school time. We used to get them coming here at 8.30 a.m. without an appointment and they would still be here at 11 a.m.

"What we are trying to do is make it impossible to come here without going through the Project Ride scheme because it's very useful.

"I have spoken to the Minister and told him that there are many who think that the scheme should be made compulsory. But there is the question that, if it was made compulsory, would it be impinging on those students.'' Yesterday CedarBridge's Design and Technology head Roy Parker denied Mr.

Dane's allegations, saying that, although students wanted to take the course, administrative difficulties at TCD often made it impractical.

"I think it's a tremendous scheme and, ideally perhaps it would be good if it were mandatory,'' he said.

"But there are only so many dates when we can book tests. For example I've just tried to make an appointment for a course and the next available date is April 15.

"I know it's frustrating some of the examiners and some of the kids get frustrated too. I think we need to all come together and look at how we can make the scheme work better for everyone. It's certainly not a case of our kids not being interested -- we have more than enough -- but it could almost be a full-time job.'' The scheme ran into difficulties several years ago because of a lack of interest by students.

It was revealed that several bikes bought for the project were rusting away in the Police compound because they were not being used.

Picture: Page 2 Project Ride could be made compulsory And the Ministries of Education and Transport had to take over the scheme after the Bermuda Union of Teachers said it could not afford to run it.

Mr. Dane's comments came after 20 Saltus Grammar School students were this week presented with certificates for successfully passing the course.

And one successful student, 16-year-old Jason Cabral, carried out a survey of his classmates which revealed that a staggering 60 percent of those questioned had been involved in an accident.

Saltus Head of Music and Project Ride coordinator Ruth Henderson said it was an excellent programme -- and the vast majority of her pupils were only too willing to participate.

Wheely great : Saltus Grammar School students (from left) Jason Cabral, Spencer Conway, Peter Martin and Kalilah Robinson are now qualified to go out on the road.