Tough measures that some may regard as ?Draconian? are being drawn up to combat the Bermudian love affair of the motor car, which in the past few months has seen the number of cars on the Island?s roads increase by an average of 80 per month.

Just how Draconian the Government needs to get to bring a halt to a seemingly runaway problem ? should it be confirmed that the past few months have not been an unusual ?blip? ? is yet to be seen.

In the past three months the number of new cars taking to the roads has been outstripping the pace that older cars are taken out of circulation to the point that there has been, on average, an extra 80 cars on the Island?s roads each month since September. Transport Minister and Deputy Premier Dr. Ewart Brown said he would wait to see a full set of yearly figures from the TCD before making a judgment on whether Bermuda is truly in a grip of a car-buying glut that threatens to overwhelm already congested roads.

He expects to have full disclosure of the figures within the next week.

?We are concerned about the problem of motorised vehicles and before the end of the current House session there are going to be some measures introduced to reduce traffic,? said Dr. Brown.

?We have begun our traffic de-congestion programme. One of the measures is the Airport Limousine Bill; that will have a significant impact on traffic, especially in the West End.?

When private schools are on holiday it has been noted that traffic levels fall off without the school-run vehicles in the morning and afternoon, said Dr. Brown.

The Airport Limousine Bill will allow minibuses that currently are only allowed to take passengers either to or from the Airport to also run services to schools on the Island. The Bill is currently going through Parliament.

?That is one of the measures that we have in the pipeline,? said Dr. Brown, and it follows on from initiatives to encourage people to use ferries as a regular form of transport.

He added: ?We have measures that are increasingly tough. We have started with the least Draconian of them and that is the airport limousines, but there are other measures on the table. ?Before we introduce a whole slew of them we will look to see the impact (of what is in place).?

Dr. Brown said it was clear that the desire to own a car was a cultural issue, he said: ?It has become an extension of the home. People have a love affair with their vehicle.?