with bad accident records.

The disclosure from the Hon. Ralph Marshall comes after it was revealed that cruise ship officials are warning passengers not to rent bikes.

It also follows concern from Shadow Tourism Minister Mr. David Allen and road safety council chairman Mr. Kim Swan that some liveries may not be instructing visitors properly.

The concerns were raised after a number of serious accidents recently involving American visitors on rented cycles.

Yesterday Mr. Marshall said he wanted to find out if records of road crashes involving visitors could pinpoint any particular livery shop as accident prone.

"There may be a pattern of some sort,'' he said. "I have chatted with the road safety officer on this and she's going to discuss it with the road safety council at the next meeting.

"I would like to see if there is some way of finding out which livery bikes are involved.'' On the other hand, he said, such a search might reveal accidents spread evenly around the liveries.

Officials might also be able to discover if particular makes of bike were more frequently involved in accidents.

Road safety officials would be meeting representatives of the livery firms and talking over the recent controversy, Mr. Marshall said. He added a new batch of tourist advice leaflets was being distributed.

Police had no news yesterday on a young girl and her grandfather who were flown back to America for hospital treatment on the weekend after suffering serious head injuries when their rented cycle collided with a truck.

But two New Jersey residents involved in a cycle accident near Wilkinson Avenue have been released from the hospital's intensive care unit.