bike dealers the authority to examine new auxiliary and motor bikes for licensing.

The amendment bill is designed to take the pressure off the Transport Control Department and speed up the licensing of new bikes. At present, dealers must take often hundreds of bikes to TCD or wait for a departmental examiner to come to them.

But if voted in by both houses, the bill will take immediate effect. Transport Minister Mr. Maxwell Burgess claimed the amendment had been in the works for some time. A similar amendment for motor cars was voted through last year prompted by pressure from dealers to find ways of speeding up the system.

Mr. Burgess said regulations for dealers were already in place. Bikes, he said, could only be inspected by licensed mechanics.

This week dealers applauded the change adding the amendment would streamline the whole licensing process for new vehicles.

"It will make it a lot more convenient and more efficient,'' said a spokesman for the Suzuki Centre. "At the moment it's headaches.'' Head mechanic at World Distributors Mr. Marvin Trott said that while new models and repaired bikes should still be vetted by TCD, he added that the amendment would ease pressure on both dealers and Transport Control for the licensing of known models.

"It will speed things up a lot,'' he said.

Another bill tabled to come before the House of Assembly will also bring relief to the physically handicapped who will benefit from the relaxation of car dimensions to accommodate wheelchairs.

The Motor Car Amendment (No. 3) Bill 1995 will extend the dimensions of cars for the physically disabled from 169 inches by 67, to 180 inches by 73. The bill will also give third parties the right to drive a car owned by a physically handicapped person in absence of the owner.

At present, the law states a private car may be driven only in the presence of its owner or as an employee.

Physically handicapped groups applauded the amendments but added they were long overdue.

Acting chairman of the Bermuda Physically Handicapped Association Mr. Willard Fox said anything that improved accessibility for the handicapped was good news.

Department of Health co-ordinator for seniors and the disabled, Ms Corita Saunders also claimed the changes were a step forward in making transport more feasible for the disabled.

"Disabled people feel they have many needs of which accessibility is definitely a priority,'' she said.