Police ticketed more than 170 people and impounded 18 vehicles over their two-day traffic initiative this week.

Despite their success, however, the Road Safety Council warned they continue to see "an alarming number of serious injuries" on the roads, with most collisions appearing to take place at high speeds ? and changing the speed limit will only make things worse.

Chairman of the Road Safety Council Joseph Froncioni also pleaded with drivers of large vehicles ? Public Transportation buses in particular ? to slow down on Bermuda's roads.

A joint Press conference between the Police Traffic Enforcement Unit, the Road Safety Council, and the Transport Control Department (TCD) was held at Police headquarters on Wednesday.

Sgt. Raoul Ming of the Traffic Enforcement Unit detailed the initiatives taken by Police on Monday and Tuesday, saying response from the public was positive.

Police in consultation with TCD cracked down on unlicensed vehicles during the two days, he said, targeting those from a TCD list of 1,200 vehicles which were not licensed.

There are an "incredible" amount of unlicensed vehicles on the roads, Tory Darrell of TCD said. Over the two days 47 people were ticketed for unlicensed cars and many more for unlicensed bikes, and 31 for having no insurance. Eleven cars and seven bikes were impounded.

Dr. Froncioni warned that licensed vehicles were just the tip of the iceberg.

Seatbelts have been shown to be effective, he said, yet a large number of vehicles with a parent belted and a child unrestrained have been recorded on the roads. "That's the most irresponsible thing you could do," Dr. Froncioni warned.

The Council is also seeing more rollovers ? both private cars and, more alarmingly, large trucks. Dr. Froncioni urged large vehicles ? particularly buses ? to travel at reasonable speeds. The Council has heard "lots of complaints" about buses, he said.In such vehicles, he added, "it is irresponsible and reckless to exceed the speed limits on our roads."

Many have called for an increase in the speed limit in Bermuda, saying if it were strictly enforced at 50 kph, a difference could be made.

"They're dreaming," Dr. Froncioni said. "People like to push the envelope." If the speed limit were 50, he said, people would drive at 65. "Our roads are not designed for that and they can't be redesigned."

Differing speed limits throughout the Island, he added, would also have a detrimental effect: in other countries with varying speed limits drivers tended to accelerate on all the roads, not just the ones with a higher speed limit.

Police will be starting new traffic initiatives over the next few weeks, Sgt. Val Holder of the Traffic Enforcement Unit said, adding they will be cracking down especially on any negligence of any sort. He declined to say when those initiatives would take place.

"We will be out there again," he promised. "We will be very driven for the next few weeks."