sometimes they are very heart-wrenching appeals from family or friends of victims.

Such an appeal was made on Monday in this newspaper by the family of taxi driver Clifford Darrell who was killed some three weeks ago in a traffic crash at Barnes' Corner in Southampton.

Mr. Darrell's wife, Sheila, used to work at this newspaper and was well respected as a warm, friendly and caring person. Her life has now been torn apart and she and her family are left asking, "How did this happen?'' "We have a lot of questions that will never be answered without help.'' This is only one of a number of serious crashes which point to the conditions on Bermuda's roads where far too many people are killed, injured or maimed for life to be acceptable in this very small Country. Many people would like to think that horrendous crashes go with super highways and high speeds but Bermuda is demonstrating that that is not necessarily true. People are dying on Bermuda's roads and the whole traffic system needs to be carefully looked at.

When this office first heard that the victim of the Barnes Corner crash was Clifford Darrell, the first thing said by one of Sheila Darrell's co-workers was, "But he was always such a careful driver.'' There is a message in that for all the drivers on Bermuda's roads. Sometimes your destiny on the roads is not in your own hands but in the hands of a great many other people.

We have great sympathy for the Darrell family's appeal for witnesses and we hope that anyone who can help them will come forward out of care and compassion. They are asking the questions any family, including your own, would ask when torn apart by an horrendous event outside its control.

But the Police too need witnesses. Some people shy away from assisting the Police because they "don't want to get involved''. But there is something called public duty. Assisting the Police should not be seem as going up against other members of the public because that is not the case. Giving assistance and doing a public duty is a contribution to other members of the public. Bearing witness is something each of us would want people to do if we or a member of our family were involved in a public incident.

We have to ask any member of the public who can help the Darrells or the Police with this matter or with other similar matters to come forward and help this family and help the Police.