AN elementary-school level introduction to road safety, tighter licence requirements, and stricter policing, could lessen the incidence of accidents such as those which recently claimed the lives of two Bermudians and hospitalised six more, Road Safety Council president Joseph Froncioni said yesterday.

Speaking after road tragedies saw 19-year-old Troylisha Outerbridge and 22-year-old Chioke (Bruiser) Spencer killed in separate, one-vehicle accidents in less than a week, Dr. Froncioni said the Council was pressing to see such measures enforced. But, he added, present laws and practices limited the organisation in what it could accomplish.

"We do our best," he said. "Whatever funds are available to us we spend on print ads, we have commercials on television, I speak in schools all the time; but with a certain kind of behaviour, it's really hard to regulate. The kinds of crashes we've seen - without speaking on any one in particular - involve people breaking all the rules of common sense. There's really little we can do with individuals who participate in (such) high-risk behaviour.

"It's illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol. Police do have the power to demand a breathalyser and it is illegal to refuse. But they also have the power to demand a sample of blood and that law, for a number of legal reasons, is not implemented at the moment. That is a priority for us. This year, we're hoping to make the law work and we're hoping that will act as a real deterrant to drinking and driving. Right now, a whole plug of people driving under the influence, slip through the net because they're taken to hospital and aren't given a breathalyser test because they can't (provide a sample of breath) because they've been injured. But, they could give a blood sample with no harm to them."

One of five passengers travelling east in a car driven by a 23-year-old Hamilton Parish man, Miss Outerbridge became the year's second road fatality after the driver lost control and the vehicle veered off an embankment on North Shore Road onto Shelly Bay field early last Thursday morning. The other passengers - ranging in age from 15 to 23 - sustained injuries in the accident while a 17-year-old male, walked away from the scene unscathed.

Mr. Spencer died after the car he was driving ploughed into a wall just east of the Port Royal Golf Course, along Middle Road in Southampton on Monday. Three friends of the construction worker, ages 16 through 23, were injured and rushed to hospital as a result.

With laws in place to protect drivers and their passengers, outside of education, there was little else that could be done as a means of prevention, Dr. Froncioni added.

"There are laws against speeding, there are laws against drinking and driving, a seat belt law is now in place. I hope people have the frame of mind to be law-abiding and use common sense. The police can't be everywhere all the time. We probably need more enforcement but there have been manpower issues on the force and, in any event, we don't want to use enforcement as one of the main tools to keep society safe. It's done better through education.

"In the business of road safety, it's well known that it's difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. We want to introduce young kids in elementary school to (proper practices). The message that we give, for example, (in a programme called Smart Risk) is that sure it's fun to ride your pushbike fast, but do so the smart way; wear the gear, ride with a helmet."

It would be helpful, he added, if programmes such as Project RIDE, became a mandatory part of the school curriculum as is done in the United States and Canada.

"The big thing here is motorbikes. As soon as most kids turn 16 they get on bikes - ther's 1,000 of them every year - with very little training and zero experience. It's one of the big areas we want to target and one which will require major change. I think, and a lot of the Council members feel, that TCD testing should be much more stringent. (The person being tested) should have to demonstrate a real knowledge and real skills."

However, he praised the rate at which Bermudians appeared to be adapting to wearing seat belts in only a short period.

"The seat belt law only came in three months ago," he said. "(The Council) hasn't done a proper survey yet, although we intend to, but through my own unscientific (one), I would say that five percent of the population used seat belts prior to the law and now, it's over 30 percent, if not 35 percent. That's pretty good for three months with no enforcement as such, by the law. It means that people are either doing it just because they're law abiding citizens or, they're doing it because they understand and believe the value of wearing seat belts."