A crackdown on bad driving habits appears to have resulted in fewer crashes for the second quarter in a row, police said yesterday.

There were 243 collisions from January to March this year, compared with 306 over the first three months of 2021 and 257 for the same period in 2020.

The Bermuda Police Service added that the figures for 2019 and 2018 were 324 and 330 respectively.

Chief Inspector Robert Cardwell, of the Tactical Support Division, said: “We can now report that Operation Vega appears to have taken hold of collision statistics.

“We reported a reduction in collisions by as many as 100 in the fourth quarter of 2021 when compared to the fourth quarter of the previous three years.

“Now for the first quarter of 2022 we can again report a reduction in collisions, compared to previous years while Operation Vega has been running.”

He added: “While this shows some success with the launch of Operation Vega, it is not the panacea for reducing collisions.”

The operation was launched last July to target the most common offences committed on the island’s roads.

In the last three months of 2021 there were 252 collisions – down from 353 for the same period in 2020.

There were 318 accidents for the fourth quarter of 2019 and 340 in 2018.

Mr Cardwell said yesterday: “Our approach has been twofold: education – working in partnership with the Bermuda Road Safety Council – and enforcement.

“We are saddened that we have been forced to put more energy into traffic enforcement to reverse collision trends.”

He added that 353 moving violation tickets were handed out in the past two weeks as well as 36 warnings.

Mr Cardwell said: “For the duration of Operation Vega, 4,448 traffic offenders have been put before the courts, to be dealt with for traffic offences.

“Speeding continues to be the most dominant traffic offence reported.

“We encourage the public to give their manner of driving or riding their full attention when operating a motor vehicle.

“Please slow down – speed kills.”